Now What?!
by Weirdlet
Summary: A small clan that has faced previous disasters encounters the little gray guys that abduct earthlings. I learn from reviews and they help improve future chapters.
1. Default Chapter

Part the First

Now What?!

Part the First

I own naught but Fiona Markovski, and yes I know this is weird.I just like writing things where the Predators are very surprised.

The dense swamp steamed, dark and dank and overly warm, even for its native inhabitants.The tall, muscular figures stayed in the water, avoiding the heat of what sun could make it through the leaves, and keeping amphibious skins damp.

It was the warm season, before the slightly cooler rainy season.Except where heavy shadow fell, invisible to their heat-sighted eyes, the water was warm.They were too overcome with heat to even feed on the little shelled, amphibious, and reptilian beasts that swarmed the waters.A bolt of lightning cracked across the sky, and thunder rumbled.This was common; in fact, if more than ten days went by without the roar of a thunderbolt sacrifices were made to regain the Burning Goddess's favor.

The male clicked his mandibles as he put his thick-skulled head above water.He was clan leader, but he had very little clan left!This was a smaller one than most, and over the past years had had a run of very bad luck.Their best hunters were killed in a hunt that might have made them famous, as some of the few that had ever survived the pursuit of the _grrr(clack)ar-r-r_.Bigger clans intruded upon their territory, and they had not been numerous enough to evict them.Banished ones and small ruthless clans raided their (click)_ur-r-r-r_(click), their sacrifice beasts.

They could not afford to go on expeditions to big hunts, so they could not gain prestige.And without that, they could not get a chance at decent prey, to trade prizes in exchange for passage on the big expeditions.The ill-luck cycled, and one of its side effects was that no one courted anyone from this clan.They were down to a dozen, three elders and their young.It was so bad that literally, very few people knew the clan existed anymore!The younger nine couldn't find mates, despite being in their prime, attractive, and strong, not even the females, and for them a good skull collection wasn't as vital as with a male!

Well, one had found a mate, but she had simply dragged him to a lair and seduced him during the breeding season, memorizing his clan-scar and allowing the male to leave.She carried now, just long enough that the individual heat of the infant was visible.

The clan leader watched his younger ones in the water, Arrrahur-r-r the scar-cheeked dozing on a large root of the gigantic trees, a burbling snore escaping his muscular throat.Grrreh(click) the stocky one looked at his brother, considered splashing him, and decided it wasn't worth the effort in this heat.R-r-rhruuh the soon-to-be mother was at the family dwelling with her tall brother (Click)Greherrrr and her half-sister Hruuuhreeh(click), who had _r-rehh_ (dreadlock like objects) to the middle of her broad back.

The other young ones, R-r-r-rahhh the large-fanged female, Ehrrrar-r-(click)rr the broad-shouldered male, and the females Vur-r-r-r and (Clack)Grreeh(click), almost unheard-of twins, were off hunting for the clan's dinner.It would be unfair to the animal if this were a regular hunt or even a normal meal, to send four after it, but the clan's herds had been driven off and raided, and with only twelve they would be unable to control a herd of savage, sharp-antlered sacrifice beasts specifically bred for their extremely bad temper.If they didn't bring down a wild beast, the twelve remaining members would go hungry.

The clan leader, Krreehhhh, shook his head to avoid dozing off.It was _really_ hot.He had been perched on a low tree branch, and now his hide was dry and tender.The elder dropped into the water, startling Arrrahur-r-r and Grrreh(click).

"Pay more attention!" he admonished the younger males.They knew the various dangers, marauding banished-ones, bigger clans taking over what they saw as unclaimed territory, wild animals.The two tilted their heads back submissively, baring their throats to the clan leader.He ignored them and started swimming, making a purling noise in his throat as the water absorbed into his skin.

The other two elders, Grrre-e-ehre and Vurrr-eh-hir-r, were probably in the family dwelling, teaching the younger adults.He almost sighed as he thought of the dwelling, the hall that had once been lined with bones and skins, had once been filled with hunters and elders and young.It was barren now, desolate.Twelve left of a clan that had once had hundreds!Shameful.Just shameful. 

Though they couldn't see it, it soon grew dark.The evening was cool, cooler than the nights had been for the past third of a year.The small clan was quietly joyous.The rainy season was upon them, bringing more tolerable temperatures and the birthing of the sacrifice beasts.It was dishonorable, but the calves were easier to catch to feed a dozen.

The five younger adults gathered in the dwelling with the elders to wait for the four gone to find food.After the heat of the day had broken, they had regained their hunger.R-r-rhruuh in particular hungered, and she eagerly awaited her siblings' arrival.

They had a tendency to feed once a day (two human days), but the way their luck had been, they sometimes had to skip days.They had less activity going on and required less energy than fully active hunters and warriors, but there were still requirements for life.Her siblings had a tendency to press their scraps on R-r-rhruuh.They knew that one child did not make a new clan, but they still wanted it to survive very much.

R-r-rhruuh in turn helped her siblings.Well, some of them were cousins, but at this point they were all considered equally blood and were equally loyal to each other.When boredom or nerves threatened the peace, she told the old tales, the legends, in an attempt to get minds off problems.When that didn't work and a fight broke out between her sibs, she kept the peace, usually with judicious application of teeth and fist to offending parties.They would not fight with her between them.

The clan in the barren hall heard the arrival of the four hunters, and jumped up eagerly to help them carry in the animal.It was a big animal, a sacrifice beast, well muscled and it smelled _good_.They laid it out, and started eating.

Vur-r-r-r and (Clack)Grreeh(click) purred as they tore into the animal's shoulder.They were younger, and this was their first big vertebrate kill.The backbones would be saved and carved to go on their _r-rehh_ as adulthood markers.

Grrre-e-ehre looked at the hide of the flank she'd been eating.The elder saw their herd-scar, with another's carved in over it.

"Tell me you didn't," she said softly.R-r-r-rahhh and Ehrrrar-r-(click)rr looked up from the limbs they were tearing apart.They had selected the beast and driven it to where Vur-r-r-r and (Clack)Grreeh(click) could pounce on it.

"It was our beast first.You can see where they carved over our mark," said R-r-r-rahhh.

"We cannot be picky," said Ehrrrar-r-(click)rr.

Grrre-e-ehre shook her head sadly.It was no use giving a lecture on honor and pride to the death.And it _had_ been their animal first, raided by others.But common thievery!What worried her was if it hadn't been their beast originally, would they have cared?Or would they have taken it anyway?

They continued eating, silent but for the crunch of bone and tear of muscle.Soon after they slept, posting Hruuuhreeh(click) as guard.She took up her post on the roof; watching out into the still, cool night.

It was silent, no sound, no whirr of air.She simply blacked out.

. . .

Vurrr-eh-hir-r woke up and groaned in pain.Her head thundered, and her elder bones creaked as she got up from the ground she'd been sleeping on.There was no reason for her to ache like this after a decent amount of sleep!She might be eldest, over two hundred years (four hundred human time), battle scarred and with healed spots in her bones, but there was absolutely no reason for her to be in pain on awakening!

She pressed her hands to her brow, not clicking her mandibles because that made it worse.She heard other groans, and she opened her eyes to look around.

This was _not_ her dwelling!

They were in a blank room, and the others were waking up and holding their pained heads.All of them were in this room, including Hruuuhreeh(click) who had been set as guard.

"What . . . happened?" (Click)Greherrrr said.

"Don't, it hurts to talk," grumbled R-r-rhruuh, supporting her face in her hands.The twelve of them had woken up with headaches like storms in their skulls, and they weren't happy about it.Finally, one or two stopped hurting long enough to notice they weren't where they were supposed to be.

Outside the heat-shielded window, a short, gray, slender being scribbled down notes on the awakening of the newest specimens. 

_Seem to have reaction to standard capture-gas, involving intense cranial pain and crankiness.Initial examinations have been completed prior awakening from capture, and indicate that subjects average three heights _(nine foot) _tall for adult females and two heights, two thirds for males.As reaction has been noted, observation will continue another thirteen sleep periods _(ten days) _before contact, advanced examination and experimentation will commence._

Grrre-e-ehre looked around at the room they were in.It was blank, featureless, at an appropriate temperature and humidity.She and the other two elders were the only ones of the group to have once worn the battle masks, so they recognized the taste of artificially mixed and produced air.The younger generation had been born after the clan had shrunk so much and become so poor that they couldn't get armor or passage to decent hunts.

She pressed her fingers to the throbbing spot above her eyes.It wasn't as bad as it had been, and the others were recovering as well.Now they had to figure out where they were, how they got there, and whose idea it had been so the offender could be properly challenged and trounced.R-r-r-rahhh was clicking her large-toothed mandibles in agitation as she, Grrreh(click) and (Clack)Grreeh(click) felt along the walls for some door or crack they might not be able to see.

Krreehhhh looked around, making sure that everyone was there and unharmed.That was his responsibility as clan leader.Vurrr-eh-hir-r the eldest had believed he was a good candidate for head of the clan and so had allowed him to beat her in the combat to gain the position so many years ago, when (Click)Greherrrr the eldest of the younger ones had been newly born.That was common, if a retiring leader had a favored choice of the next head of the clan.But the new one still had to beat the old leader properly and make a very good effort, or the elder wouldn't pass on the leadership.

After a few more minutes, they'd all recovered sufficiently from the blinding headaches to take interest in their surroundings.The room was as long as all their heights combined, and a little shorter in width.It was, as previously seen, blank, featureless, and utterly boring.The walls did not give under a punch, nor from Arrrahur-r-r ramming it with his shoulder.

They gathered in the center, some looking outward suspiciously, the rest talking of this strange development.

"Where is here, and how'd we get here?" Vurrr-eh-hir-r growled.

"I know not.Hruuuhreeh(click), you were posted as guard," said Krreehhhh.

"All I know is that I was watching from the roof, and I blacked out, and then I was here with my skull being danced on."A guard remiss in duties resulting in detriment for their charge, at least in a normal sized clan, tended to be banished or executed.She had been watchful, attentive, and obviously tricked by a sneakier being.

She was believed, and the discussion continued while some took turns watching the walls for any sign of change or of opening door.If they had been placed _in_ here, there _had_ to be a way out.

The discussion of what was going on did not continue very long; it could not with such limited data.They settled into an attentive circle, wishing for some contact so they might at least judge if it was wise to pursue honor and challenge their captor(s).

Aside from the hideous headaches that had since faded, there seemed to be no damage.Their breathing was okay; each one's two hearts beat fine.R-r-rhruuh's youngling was unharmed; they could see its heat plainly.The only thing missing was Hruuuhreeh(click)'s wrist-blades.

Each had possessed a set of wrist-blades, the smaller informal use ones for every day food-hunt and defense.The clan was unable to afford anything more from the ones who made advanced armor and weapons, the City-Dwellers, also called Cowards behind their backs.The Yehhh-R-r-r-Hruhh, the City-Dwellers, had long ago abandoned the swamps and moved to drier areas, along the way abandoning the rough life and honor-based society of their predecessors, and developing technology that they were quite willing to share with their "barbarian" cousins-for a fee.

After an hour, no change had occurred.They were alone in a sealed room, whose walls resisted even the hardest of blows by multiple attackers, as evidenced by the bruised shoulders of the captives.Occasionally one clicked a mandible or growled in annoyance.

After another six hours of this, those who listened to the small sounds of aggravation were thoroughly tired of the noise.A scuffle broke out between two of the temperamental creatures, Ehrrrar-r-(click)rr and Arrrahur-r-r.R-r-rhruuh jumped up and came between them, shouldering aside one and punching the other.By honor code and instincts, they could not and would not fight back with her.She snarled at them both, and settled into her former position.

In another hour, nothing more had changed, except that R-r-rhruuh, Grrreh(click), and the twins Vur-r-r-r and (Clack)Grreeh(click) were fast asleep.

The grey, short (about to your hip, like) large headed being took down another note behind the heat-shield.

_It's officially universal: males release frustration by beating their heads repeatedly against a wall or other hard object._

It looked up from the pad it wrote on, observing the new specimens again.

_We should probably show them the simulated environment soon, before they start getting extremely stressed._

After another hour, the captives were almost all asleep.R-r-r-rahhh was dozing off, when she heard the smallest of noises.She looked up, and saw something come _through_ the wall!

She jumped up, startling (Clack)Grreeh(click) and Krreehhhh and causing Grrreh(click)'s head that had been resting on her back to make sudden contact with the floor.The object was in front of the spot on the wall where it had come through.She ignored it, and touched the wall, finding it as solid as ever and growling her immense frustration.

The others woke, and after an explanation by R-r-r-rahhh, they examined the object while she continued to frown (close her upper mandibles and relax the lower ones) at the wall.

The thing that had come through the wall was a tray, holding an amount of what appeared to be meat.It was strange, but smelled edible.They were not, however, in the habit of trusting food from unknown sources that had somehow managed to capture them.

Krreehhhh, as clan leader, had the responsibility of investigating and testing the new food source.The others stayed a short bit away as he craned his head over the meat with his jaws opened wide, allowing air to flow over the scent receptors in the back of his throat and lining his inner jaw.

After a while, he tasted a small amount.It had no ill effects, aside from being interesting (difficult) to tear into.They fed on the meat, displeased with themselves.It was not highly regarded to allow oneself to be fed like an animal in a cage.But this was an unusual clan.Honor and pride were actually taking second place to survival.

The small clan fed, and settled to wait again.This contact-without-contact with their captors was unsettling.They, and their kind, preferred that outside the hunt at least, things be conducted face-to-face and honestly, whether trade, insult, or fighting.There was disquiet in the air, subtle and very obvious.Some traced the slender, near-invisible scars at the sides of their fingers, from the same days they had been born.As soon as possible after birth, the webbing between their fingers was cut away, allowing them greater use and dexterity of their hands.The clan scars followed soon after, one's name, the name of one's sire and dam, ringed with the mother's clan name.

Several hours later, they had settled into sleep again.Whatever time they had spent unconscious apparently had not counted toward the eighteen hours sleep they usual had.They did not notice anything, deeply dreaming.If their Burning Goddess had done battle with the Cold God in the room, flung lightning bolts and all, none would have so much as stirred.

. . .

R-r-rhruuh was the first awake.She raised her head slightly, seeing her family around her and their prison around them.But this time it was slightly different.A wall was missing.

In place of the missing wall, it opened into an area that looked almost like the swamps of home!Except . . . except . . .

It had no scent.Well, it had a scent, but not the right one.No smell of the trees or animals that it should have, just the smell of air and water and the mud that must be beneath the water.It was a false home, a forged swamp.

R-r-rhruuh raised her head and torso from the prone position she'd been sleeping in.Her _r-rehh_ were caught under Hruuuhreeh(click)'s heavy shoulder, and she spent a moment tugging herself free.Carefully, she rose to her feet and stepped over her clan-sibs and elders, being careful not to catch anyone with the heel-spur that came in handy for climbing trees and fending off the grouchy beasts that dwelled in deeper water in the home fen.

The muscular female walked to the edge where the wall had been.R-r-rhruuh crouched and reached an arm out to touch the water.It felt normal.Beneath it lay warm rich mud.She turned her head curiously. This was certainly an interesting turn of events.

She walked back and nudged her sibs.When that didn't work, she made a snarl of disgust and shoved Hruuuhreeh(click) hard.

"Hu-what?"

"The wall's gone," she remarked, and turned back to face the false swamp as her sister scrambled upright, waking several others in the process.

The twelve were awake in an instant, jumping upright.They stopped dead to see the missing wall and simulated fen.Vur-r-r-r and (Clack)Grreeh(click) were very curious, and wanted to go and explore the new area.The elders placed restraining hands on their shoulders.This could be a trick, or a trap, or any number of detrimental things their captors had thought up.

Krreehhhh once again took the responsibility of clan leader, and walked into the place to explore.All of them stayed in the room they'd been in on his order.

Within an hour, he returned.

"It's safe.It gives us about the same space as the big pool to the north of our home."

"What's in there?"

"Water, false trees, and mud.No animals, we're the only living things here."

With varying noises of curiosity, the amphibious, carnivorous clan walked in to explore.

. . .

It had been six of their days since the capture.The entire clan was burning with curiosity.Who had done this?Why?Would they continue to live in this tiny space the rest of their lives, fed, bored, never seeing their captors?

Things were going fairly well, all things considered.There had only been one fight in which R-r-rhruuh had had to interfere.Out of boredom and hope that eventually they'd meet their captors and challenge them, they exercised heavily.R-r-r-rahhh and Arrrahur-r-r, who normally couldn't stand each other but were polite or at least non-homicidal for the clan's sake, could be found together discussing what they thought their captors might be.R-r-rhruuh's youngling was healthy and growing; the embryo was now the size of its mother's fist.Vur-r-r-r and (Clack)Grreeh(click), though, were concerned that if they ever got home again, would the spine of their first big kill still be there, to be made into the adulthood markers for their _r-rehh_.

The grey three-foot alien blinked large dark eyes at the specimens.They couldn't see it, of course, there had been careful research on what spectrum the new creatures saw in and the windows to their simulated environment were heat shielded accordingly.

_Today we contact the new specimens.They have had thirteen sleep periods to recover and get acclimated to their surroundings, and are showing few signs of stress.We will begin with allowing contact with ourselves, and then with their neighboring specimens to either side.In a bit we'll start the scanning and forced telepathic communication between them and other species, including ourselves.Then, _it wrote gleefully, _they go to the experimental planet!_

Ehrrrar-r-(click)rr was the first to notice the change in the room they'd been in before the false swamp had shown up.

He walked up to the wall that now was a wide window, showing him a hallway and several tiny, large headed beings that came up to mid thigh.Ehrrrar-r-(click)rr looked down at the tiny aliens.

"Hey!Vurrr-eh-hir-r!There's something you should see!"

The elder had a tendency to dislike disturbances of her sleep.The clan knew this, and didn't disturb her for anything other than the truly vital (if one did, one tended to get a boxed ear).

She stretched, came down from the false tree limb, and walked over.Even long years of work at patience and silence when surprised could not stifle the startled screech.

"WHAT ARE THEY?!" 

"How should I know, Elder?"

Vurrr-eh-hir-r stared down at the tiny things that came up to her knee.They were ridiculously small, with large heads, huge eyes, and a cool temperature.Were _these_ their captors?!These things one could most likely squash with one kick?!She stared, incredulous, at the things who just looked back and scribbled on boards.Meanwhile, Ehrrrar-r-(click)rr got the others over to see.

The other elders were just as incredulous as Vurrr-eh-hir-r.The twins were extremely curious, and pressed close to the window to see the scrawny aliens.They were younger, and smaller than the other females, so the little beings on the other side of the glass came up to their thighs.The other seven were just as curious, and some leaned down to get a better look.

They studied each other.The three-foot alien scribbled and scribbled, while the eight- and nine-foot aliens stared down and were skeptical.These could not possibly be the captors that had captured twelve of what to them was one of the greater races in the galaxy.It offended their pride that these diminutive almost stick figures could have captured them.

Eventually, the little aliens stopped scribbling.One of them took a small object from somewhere and pressed a button.The heat shielding came down, and the clan got a first glimpse of their neighbors.

Fiona Markovski looked up from her book, which thankfully the little abductors had allowed her to retain.The neighbors apparently were now available for conversation through the glass.

She was a fifteen-year-old redhead who read a lot of fantasy and sci-fi.She'd developed the theory that once something was made into a movie or a popular book series, no one would ever believe an actual example of the subject was more than a costume party.When the U.S government had finally come out a few years ago and admitted that was what the X-files was, they'd refused to admit which books and movies they'd had a hand in, no matter how much prodding from the people along the lines of "_You_ work for _us_, and we should know to guard ourselves."The government insisted they would tell if there were something dangerous.

_Ha_, she thought to herself, adjusting her glasses._Warn us, indeed._She'd have appreciated a warning _before_ she'd been abducted.Fortunately, the movies involving extraterrestrial exploratory surgery on humans were inaccurate.They had bio-scans or something to that effect.The forced telepathic communications, now _that_ had freaked her out.Even with all the reading she'd done of Lackey novels and halfway through _Telzey Amberdon_, it was a shock to actually speak mind to mind.She'd let the little grey Roswell-rejects know her displeasure as soon as she'd figured out how to work with the machine that allowed them to share thoughts.It was fun, in a sadistic sort of way, to see their reaction to very loud mental music, bagpipes and Beethoven and very high-pitched beginner's violin.

After letting them know where she stood on the issue, she was quite happy to speak with them on other subjects.It turned out some of them actually were entertained by human amusements, and she'd spent about an hour or so discussing the virtues of _Dragonheart_ with one of them.

It was sort of hard to tell them apart, except in thought.It was also highly difficult to lie mind-to-mind, so she believed she could trust in the fact that they intended only to study varying species from different planets, with a few mild experiments.Mild in a sense that it didn't involve physical or psychological torment, more like if they worked well in groups and how they reacted to being put in a strange environment, did they adapt or panic.

Fiona looked up from her book at the newly available neighbors, and dropped her book and jaw.This could not be._THIS COULD NOT BE._Surely-surely the government would have considered this enough of a danger to admit it and get on with guarding the populace?

But there, just past the window of her enclosure, were Predator aliens.

This was the closest she'd ever come to being cowed.The abductor aliens had admired the way she refused to let something that threatened her intimidate her, that she directed anger toward whatever tried to daunt her.But this was a little much, even for this particular weird kid.

In a moment, she'd recovered herself enough to think, _Well, I guess I'll see if I can't get proof and coerce our idiots in office to take better care of us._They_ work for _us_, darn it, not the other way around!We've allowed them to play around with their little experiments without authority far too long!_

Of course she knew it wasn't bloody likely she'd succeed, but it was a nice thought that should be pursued on the off chance it might work.

Rising, she walked over to the window and knocked.


	2. Part the Second

Part the Second

Part the Second

I thank Izzy Antaeta and all other reviewers.Just a note, you've unleashed a monster.I actually have a plot for this, and will continue it and my other strange tales.(Evil cackle that ends in a squeak).Another note; how do you think Predators and the MIB would react to each other?

Grrre-e-ehre noticed the creatures to either side that were suddenly visible, and was quite surprised to see to her left a _huurrrehhhhhra,_ a human.It knocked on the window and stared in at them like it was expecting them to answer back.

She'd hunted the humans once, and nearly lost her head in the process.That hunt had been a total disaster, early on in her career and over a hundred and fifty of her years, three hundred by the prey's time, ago.The younglings had never been off planet, had indeed never been out of the main swamp regions of home; they knew almost nothing of beyond-world preys.And this was one prey they would never hunt: there had been an incident with "dragons" or whatever those idiot _huurrrehhhhhra_ called them, about thirty years ago, in which the giant beasts had claimed Earth as _their_ territory and the _huurrrehhhhhra_ a protected species.And as the dragons made use of unnatural and very frightening powers, including telepathy, the hunters were not about to force the issue, not after the images forced into visiting warriors' minds.The dragons, matter and energy manipulators, could literally hide anywhere, be anything; and they were useless for hunting, anytime they were vulnerable in a manner that didn't guarantee the hunter's death, the beasts were protected by the rules of the hunt.

R-r-rhruuh noticed the little human to their left also, while most of the others still stared down at the captors or to the right at the even stranger creatures.It reminded her of stories of great prey she'd heard.What was the little creature?

She moved from her central position to the left to get a better look, ignoring her clan and the equally interesting creatures to the front and right.This had caught her attention first.

Fiona looked up at the nine-foot alien that approached.Hmm.A bit taller than in the movie, this one.She looked up, if not fearless then bravely.There was about six inches of, not glass, but something that probably took the focused power of a small atomic bomb to break it, between them.Plus, she wasn't much of a challenge, so if that part of the movies were accurate, she wasn't in much danger.

Still, it didn't hurt to allow herself a little fear.

The Predator alien looked down with what might be interpreted as a curious expression on its face.Fiona looked up, face bland.

"Hello."

The little creature had spoken to her!R-r-rhruuh was intrigued, and crouched to get a better look at the creature four feet shorter than she was.She'd never had the opportunity to see creatures from off planet, just a few skulls belonging to others when she was younger.This little life form was sort of cute, in a way.

"You're a strangeling little alien, aren't you?" she murmured to herself.The little creature looked, its smooth single-jawed face turned sideways in what seemed to be a universal posture of curiosity.

"Probably a pet or something," R-r-rhruuh concluded to herself.

"That is _not_ a pet."

She looked up to see her grand-dam, Grrre-e-ehre, with an expression of something along the lines of disgust and contempt on her face directed at the creature across the window.

"That is a prey species, and a highly dangerous one.One that we can no longer hunt, to be sure, but the _huurrrehhhhhra _can be vicious and they have no honor.They are not something one should become familiar with."

"It interests me," she said simply.But she turned and went to view the strange creatures on the right.

Fiona watched the Predator turn and go to the other side of the room.There actually were some rather fascinating animals over there, but her main interest for the moment was the right-next-door neighbors.

Once you got over the heart-stopping fear of a known killer species being six inches from one's face, they were _fascinating_ to study.The taller ones seemed to have a broader hipped structure.Perhaps they were female?And they had a broad range of expressions that sort of translated into human emotions, especially around the brow ridges.The one who had studied her had been curious, and the one that had growled and clicked at the inquisitive one had had obvious dislike in its face and demeanor.

Some of the others, shorter than the two she'd first come face to face with, came close and studied her.Fiona boldly stared back.The investigation of each other continued for a while, until Fiona grew bored with it and went back to her book.

_Egad, I think I'm the only one I know who would stare a dangerous alien or twelve in the face, grow bored with them, and go back to a book!_Shaking her head at herself, Fiona opened up to page 104 in her Potter book.

The enclosure to her left had been empty the whole time of her stay here, and she'd been half-asleep and without her glasses when the neighbors had been brought in and the window sealed to her vision.There were some interesting critters across the hall, but they were non-sapient and it was difficult to speak through a total of twelve inches of transparent concrete and a hallway.Egad, how dull.

Well, now that the windows were unblocked, she could see what was in the enclosure beyond the Predators' one.But that could wait a bit, until after they stopped blocking her view with their giant bodies.

Without further ado, she went back to her current mental universe, in which cats connived and doors could be solid walls just pretending.

Grrre-e-ehre went to speak with the other elders, who had looked their fill at the aliens to the front and either side.The younger nine were still very curious, especially about the _huurrrehhhhhra_ on their left.Grrre-e-ehre was disgusted.

"Look!They gawk at a prey beast like a curiosity, a non-dangerous thing!Have their heads gone soft?"

"No, not gone soft, they were never hardened.They've never trophy-hunted, Grrre-e-ehre.They've never even been out of the swamps, into one of the Cities.They haven't learned what is and is not equal to them."

The elders knew the way hunters and warriors thought, having been them themselves.They were the greatest, and other species were so much hunting-fodder.If, very rarely, a prey-species managed to get the better of a hunter, it was usually allowed to live to improve its breed.

The younger generation of the clan had never been extensively hunt-trained, the clan had been too busy trying to survive, and fostering with a different clan had been impossible as all nearby ones had been hell-bent on raiding theirs to pieces.All the other family branches were extinct.Thus the nine young adults hadn't the natural pride and arrogance of properly trained warriors.

"What do we do about it?"

"There is not much we can.For now it is harmless, and do we even know if we'll get to our home-world again?Less worry over training our young properly for now, and more worry about that."

"Besides, they aren't likely to ever have an opportunity to hunt properly._If_ we get home, we've lost what status we had by being captured, as if anyone knew we existed in the first place!Let them have their fun and be entertained by the little beasts.If the situation changes, _then_ we reconsider."And that was all Krreehhhh had to say on the subject.

He knew his clan's situation wasn't likely to improve.They really weren't known of except by those who had raided them, and those probably thought they were all dead.And that was _if_ they got back!

Grrre-e-ehre was still highly displeased, to say the least.She did not like the idea of her young and clan young associating with inferior animals, things to be hunted.They deserved respect, as all prey did, but not the respect of an equal.But there was no way to keep the younger nine from looking with wonder and curiosity at the aliens to either side.What else was there to do?Pride would have to take second place to sanity, because these beasts were the only other living things around.The hunters did not do well in captivity, absolute and utter boredom had very bad effects.

None of the elders slept satisfied that time.


	3. Part the Third

Part the Third

Part the Third

It was two of their days before anything new happened.The captured clan looked at the curiosities to either side and across the hall from them.The elders grumbled.They exercised just in case an opportunity arose to escape.And R-r-rhruuh studied the funny little creature, a _huurrrehhhhhra._

She was often found at the window, looking in at the member of a now-forbidden prey species.She had been told the tale, and memorized it to tell her own child, of how hunters had first encountered the strange guardians the _huurrrehhhhhra_ didn't even know they had.Dragons, as the _huurrrehhhhhra_ called them, were known as Vrererererer(crack)grurrrr(click), or "sneaky, freakish, fire-breathing demons."R-r-rhruuh had almost not believed the tale, that the Vrererererer(crack)grurrrr(click) could possibly exist.But they surely must, for the _huurrrehhhhhra_ were fine prey and would not be given up if their guardians were not so dangerous. 

Curious, she observed the little creature.It spent much time looking through the rectangular, partitioned objects it had, sometimes muttering to itself, sometimes making a strange noise the elders said was laughter.Apparently there was something amusing in the objects, or at least interesting.Perhaps it recorded things in a way it could see.There were so many interesting things to speculate on here, it was almost a sensory overload.R-r-rhruuh was not alone in her wonder at this strange new situation; she was merely the one most interested in the strange little creature that supposedly her kin and ancestors had hunted as an extreme challenge.

R-r-rhruuh watched the _huurrrehhhhhra_, observing the strange mouth, the clawless hands and weak body.But then she saw the big skull, the bulging forehead and round back.Perhaps, she mused, the _huurrrehhhhhra_ were clever enough that they made up for their frail bodies, used weapons to substitute for teeth and talons.Maybe.Why else would they be good prey?

Done with observing for the moment, she went to find her sibs.Of course, it wasn't very hard, the enclosure covered about the same amount of space as the big pool to the north of their home, they could cover more ground at a leisurely pace in an hour.In order to keep away from each others' throats, the younger nine had divided the area into their own small territories that the other young adults must ask to enter.The elders were calm with each other, but the younger could get highly temperamental and knew it.So to avoid open hostilities in a crowded environment, they had territories and respected each others' borders.

R-r-rhruuh found her brother (Click)Greherrrr and Grrreh(click), Ehrrrar-r-(click)rr and the twins.Having finished practicing, they were bored out of their skulls, and looked up to see their clan-sister.There was no way to get at their captors or get out, and it was very frustrating.

Seeing her clan-sibs, R-r-rhruuh settled onto the ground with them.She looked from one face to another.Boredom was not good for a hunter's sanity.She had never really had a problem, for she always had old tales and new tales in her mind.

"I don't think I ever finished telling you about Hehrrrrehhh the Spine-Breaker and the Demon of the Saltwater Caps."Of course, she'd done no such thing as start telling them, but it softened the listeners.She began to weave with her voice, the deep growls, gurgling vowels, and insectile clicks coming together in a story of the Spine-Breaker and his journey to and battle with the monster at the small ocean at the northern end of the planet.

It took several hours to get through the first episode of the story, and there would be several more.But by then, her audience had settled into sleep.It wasn't an insult; rather it told her she'd successfully relaxed her sibs.R-r-rhruuh had always had that gift, and it had kept the minuscule clan from destroying itself in stressful times by distracting members from petty feuds that they might have killed each other over, for a moment's insult.

She turned from her sleeping siblings to find the others and practice herself.Her youngling stirred deep inside, and she stretched fluidly.R-r-rhruuh herself worried over their fate.It was dishonorable to allow oneself to be caged and fed, but it was considered highly stupid to suicide in a manner that left more evidence than a smoking crater.And, cowardly as it was, she preferred to live through this and regain pride another day, as well as the fact of her babe.She'd gone to trouble to have one, as out-clan males wanted to know the mother of their young.The hunters in the younger half of their career particularly, before they had gained prestige that would have their names known over their world, wanted to know their offspring would be raised in clans with good trainers and power. Mutual firstborns were very rare.Younger mothers were more likely to choose an elder male, while elder mothers who already had several children by proven warriors might give newer hunters their start as sires.

R-r-rhruuh found her sibs who were still practicing, chose a partner, and began.

Fiona watched the Predators through the shared window.They were absolutely _fascinating!_Of course, if she ever met one face-to-face without a wall between, she'd run like a hare.There was only so much study of dangerous-but-interesting critters her subconscious would tolerate before survival instincts kicked in.

She was a tale-maker, as she saw herself, a creator of worlds and peoples with a pen._Everything_ was fair game, so far as she was concerned, to be studied and within her mind altered and nudged and turned into a story or a part of one, a setting or a situation or a player in her strange sagas.And that included being taken by little gray aliens and given a vantage point where she could see all sorts of neat beasties.For example, that one creature across the hall to the right that looked like a neat version of a unicorn-but she was getting sidetracked into the jungle of her own mind again.Back to watching the Predators.

Fiona watched them-practice, she supposed.It looked like they were fighting with each other, but they always stopped short of harming their partner.The mist in their enclosure made their mock-battle look mysterious and spooky; she thought of old movies about Sleepy Hollow and the Headless Horseman, how they always had mist surrounding the spectral hunter as he galloped through the leafless spiny-limbed trees.But the Predators were real, and mere yards away.

They were huge and muscular and mottled, with deep-sunken eye sockets with a ring of dark pigmentation around them, making the gray and orange eyes seem to glow in a sullen and eerie way.Cool, she thought.There were slight variations between them, but she could see how similar they were.Their bones were the same, their mottling patterns.One had larger teeth in its mandibles, another had a more muscled build, and some had longer-

She stopped.What _were_ those dreadlock-like things fringing the huge skulls?They looked too solid to be braided hair, but they were definitely not horns and couldn't be called tentacles, they didn't move as limbs.Hmm.Another point to speculate.

Fiona had noticed other things about the Predators.She believed she had the genders pinned down.The taller ones of the group were broader-hipped and shorter-tempered.It was possible they were the females, but of course she had no way of knowing for certain.And there were three of the aliens, two of them the nine foot tall broad hipped types, and one the eight foot tall version seen in the movies, whose will seemed to hold sway among the group.They were scarred and slower than the others, and they were shown respect, throats bared to them, so they might be older and in a position of authority.

Her observation and theorization was interrupted as she got a view of the Abductors coming down the hall.It was too much to hope for that they were going to allow her out and maybe to view them at work.She had won them over in their mental conversations, convincing them to tell her a little about them, and they had revealed more to her than ever to another of a different species than theirs.If anyone knew that they treated their specimen as more than an experiment, or if they compromised the integrity of the experiment by letting her out of her enclosure, they'd lose their funding.

Fiona watched curiously as the Abductors walked down the hall, and stopped in front of the Predator's enclosure.Ah.Exams were about to begin.

R-r-rhruuh finished practice as she pulled back a blow that would have broken R-r-r-rahhh's teeth.They breathed hard, their hearts beating very strong as they slowed to normal pace again.The others had finished practice, and Krreehhhh watched his clan-children as they strengthened themselves.He always encouraged practice of unarmed battle, for even though the clan could not afford even basic weaponry, pride would have them able to function quite well without it.It was a good wager that one of his clan against one of another in a wrestling duel would come out of it the victor.

R-r-r-rahhh looked at her sister as R-r-rhruuh turned to the window of their cage, raising a brow-ridge.Why was she so curious about the _huurrrehhhhhra_?The elders said it was once a prey-species, before the legendary Vrererererer(crack)grurrrr (click) had claimed dominion and forbidden the hunt of them.What was so interesting about a funny little beast with useless teeth and talons that barely came up to her hip?Eh.R-r-rhruuh had always been the strange one, that in thousands of years past would have been a priestess or discoverer, always wondering over the whys and hows of the world rather than only how to function in it.

But even skeptical R-r-r-rahhh was interested as the _huurrrehhhhhra_ knocked on the window and casually pointed toward the space beyond the enclosures.She turned, and saw with R-r-rhruuh and Krreehhhh the tiny things that seemed to be their captors.Once again, one of them took out a small rectangular object and pressed it with a digit, and the clan found itself once more in a highly surprising and angering position.

Each was in the process of movement when they found the air around them had thickened and solidified into a hard and impenetrable wall.As with the walls of their enclosure, it was impervious to the damage they sought to inflict with their razory talons.Growls and snarls rose and fell dangerously as wrathful tempers shortened.

Reason did not enter into the attack on the invisible cages.Their moods were never best in captivity, and further restraint– snapped -them.The captive hunters clawed at the restraining air in insane fury, attempting with large amounts of brute force to push through them.It didn't work, but they were incensed, raging with the pent-up proud anger at their captors.

Fiona watched as the force fields went up around the Predators and winced.They apparently did _not_ like being restrained, and though it was a bit like watching a Chihuahua attacking a St. Bernard, she had to admire the effort they made.They reminded her of the tales of the Norse berserkers, only they weren't getting anywhere.She again winced involuntarily as one of them with brilliant orange eyes and a scarred cheek rammed the force field with its shoulder and nearly concussed itself.

_They're like boars, almost.Suicidaly ferocious, they don't care so long as the foe or obstacle is rended.Egad._

Fiona watched as the Predators nearly killed themselves trying to get out of their containments.Within ten minutes, they were breathing hard, still clawing at the invisible walls but obviously not up to it.Known killers or not, she had to feel sorry for them._They must _really _hate captivity.That one elder looks ready to have a heart attack, and still it keeps clawing!_

They had exhausted themselves against the force-fields that contained them, and Fiona watched with a pitying look as the Abductors came into the enclosure and retrieved the Predators, allowing whatever powers those remotes of theirs had to levitate the force field cages and the captives within them.

She winced again.The impression she'd always gotten from the films was that the Predators were extremely proud creatures, suiciding rather than allow another to kill them, etc.This could not be good for their egos.Something told her that beings like that, humbled, would see little point in existence.But maybe the movies were inaccurate.Hmm, a notion she'd never speculated on before.

Fiona bit her lip as the exhausted Predators glared suspiciously at the Abductors and the invisible cages now floating along beside them.If the films were accurate, or at least well-based on reality, then these creatures had messily killed and butchered people for sport.Or at least their kind.But she had to feel sorry for them; she couldn't _stand_ when unnecessary pain and fear were invoked.Not after her little sister dying of cancer, and not after observing many things from life, books and movies.She didn't like seeing that in _any_ creature, even if it was necessary.

Knowing there was no point or use in worrying until the Predators were examined and put back in their enclosure, she sighed and started on a Lackey novel, something outside the Heralds of Valdemar.

The clan snarled to themselves, the captors walking down a hall, turning, and walking and turning again many times.They did _not_ like this.These invisible cages were beyond even what City-Dwellers had within their grasp!And worse, they were inside them!!!!

Their cages were a bit off the ground, stable somehow as they traveled.Their captors, still ridiculously undersized to have succeeded in such a feat, walked quietly along the labyrinthine halls, squeaking to one another until at last, the caravan reached a pair of doors.

Slivers of fear, the Cold God's icy talons, ran along their backs.Arrrahur-r-r and Grrreh(click) squared their shoulders and spread their mandibles in grimaces of intimidation.R-r-rhruuh touched her palm to her stomach and her face was a mask of menace, and the elders started deep, dangerous growls low in their throats that would have translated to, "You are treading on perilous ground, watch what you do or it will be your last act!"

The others crouched in postures where it would be easy to spring from; worry was not the term to describe what ran through them.Among hunters, fear expressed itself as aggression toward the cause.The clan, from the young twins to Krreehhh the leader and head of the family, were at the moment ready to tear the captors and eat their hearts should the opportunity arise, they were that scared.

The captors opened the doors and true terror gripped the hunter-clan.

The technician looked up to acknowledge the others coming into the antechamber of exam room 15.It blinked its dark eyes, then started.This room was already occupied!

"Wait, wait, wait!We're using this for dissection right now!"

The group of scientists devoted to the wing where the two sapient species were represented was displeased.

"We registered for use of this exam room three days ago!We have a new species to record and examine, and we are not about to let a secretarial mix-up stand in the way of scientific progress!"

"Well, don't talk to me!I'm just a technician, go see the scientists using it.And you can't go in there, they're _dissecting!!_" it squealed as one of the scientists went over and knocked.

"Busy!" came the cry through the intercom.

Another knock got a similar result.

The small scientist went absolutely green with rage.

"By the authority vested in me by the High Librarian as head scientist of Wing 68 and because my voice projects the best, _I order you to open that door!"_

A large grey head, coated in the sterility seal that covered the dissectors from head to heel, popped out and regarded the fellow scientist with a look of annoyance."What?!" it squeaked irritably."We're in the middle of the third stomach, can't you see we're busy?"

The twelve hunters watched the captors squeak at each other, with much gesturing of tiny fists and what must be their version of shouting, raising pitch rather than volume.

R-r-rhruuh crouched in her floating cage, pressing her palm to her belly.A deep growl issued from her throat.The captors were arguing with one another, deciding their fate most likely.And they were helpless to stop it!

The tiny creatures that had put them in these tiny cages were arguing with the ones from the room before them.The one that had knocked on the door barged in, and the group followed, taking the cages with them.

They saw a chamber where a large, very dead animal lay on a table, its organs exposed, some removed and jarred.R-r-rhruuh looked away, concentrating on her siblings and elders.The twins looked frozen, absolutely still.The elders growled and remained in threatening postures; (Click)Greherrrr, R-r-r-rahhh and Hruuuhreeh(click) looked nauseated at the idea that the captors could defile a body like that.A clean death, if not an honorable one, was something sought among hunters.Arrrahur-r-r and Grrreh(click) were breathing slowly in an attempt to calm their violently beating hearts, and Ehrrrar-r-(click)rr had a look to him that she knew.His broad shoulders were quaking; he was ready to give a squall of absolute and utter terror and disgust, but his throat was frozen, closed by the emotion he sought to express.

And she?She was angry and terrified to the marrow of her bones.Her child stirred, and R-r-rhruuh growled deeper.These _things_ would not bring harm to her young if she had to tear every one in half.


	4. Part the Fourth

Part the Fourth

Part the Fourth

The scientists argued a few minutes more, and finally the dissectors won out.They had taken over what had seemed an unused exam room when they should have seen if it was assigned or not, but they were too far along into the project to pack it into a storage unit.The group who wished to examine the new species gave up and stormed off in disgust, attempting to find an unoccupied and unassigned examination chamber.

Room 37 was unoccupied and none had signed up to use it in the near future, so the group of relieved scientists greeted the technician in there and prepared to study their newest specimens.The technician looked up at the growling fanged creatures that outweighed it approximately eleven to one.

_"You didn't anesthetize them?!"_ it squealed incredulously.

"The standard capture gas gives them a bad reaction; it'd affect the scans, and we don't need to wait for them to get functional after blinding head-pains."

"Yes, but-but-" the technician squeaked."Couldn't you have done _something?_They're brutes!Do you think they'll just calmly lie down and be scanned _without_ trying to eat us?!!!"

The scientists just rolled dark eyes and went into the chamber to inspect the equipment and make sure everything was functioning, while one stayed behind to try and calm the near-hysterical technician.

"Look, the scans put them to sleep anyway-"

"Yes, but they aren't exactly portable, are they?!You can't put them to sleep now and save trouble to get them onto the tables, can you!?!"

"Technician A;lskefjpqaoiueroksjfkmc,.zxmcnvnmn,m4298ka1087 93qwertpaosijdlk, if you cannot calm yourself, we will send you away and retrieve another to keep things running!We are using the traditional approach to large, dangerous creatures who can't be anesthetized!We gang up on them!"

Technician A;lskefjpqaoiueroksjfkmc,.zxmcnvnmn,m4298ka1087 93qwertpaosijdlk went rigid, arms at sides, fingers and toes splayed and eyes staring, the equivalent of fainting.The scientist shook its head in disgust and tucked the technician under its arm, to be stored elsewhere until it recovered.

A quick conference later, the scientists had calculated it would require about seven to a specimen to wrestle them into the scanning area.Deciding to try one of the two smaller ones first, they positioned themselves and deactivated the force field.

The clan reacted to the release of Vur-r-r-r with another frenzied attempt to get out of their invisible cages.Vurrr-eh-hir-r the eldest let out a shriek that would have shattered stone.She had borne Vur-r-r-r and Clack)Grreeh(click) twenty years ago, and as their mother would give up life, pride and honor to protect them.But she couldn't, and she cursed violently, because she couldn't get out of the cage!

They clawed at the hardened air until their talons bled, while Vur-r-r-r fought as well as she could against the tiny creatures that dared imprison her.But the captors apparently had a hard, tight grip and weighed a lot more than they looked.Vur-r-r-r was eventually overcome and wrestled into submission, placed on the low table in the center of the room.While she struggled, the captors manacled her into place, and left her on the table, going over to the side and flipping various switches on a panel.

One remained, scribbling furiously on a board as it watched young Vur-r-r-r snarl and struggle.The clan watched in terror/fury as a rectangle of slightly warm hue descended from the ceiling and seemed to cover and go through Vur-r-r-r.She struggled furiously for a moment more, then her movements eased, and finally stopped.

Clack)Grreeh(click) roared louder than her mother had, wondering if her twin was dead.In a normal-sized clan it was common enough to lose a quarter of one's siblings before they earned breeding rights, and sibling loyalty was incredibly strong.But among such a tiny clan, the allegiance to blood was not to be believed.Her sister was so still!Her sister!

R-r-rhruuh had roared as Vur-r-r-r stilled, not believing that any creature could be so Cold God-touched as to slaughter a child who had barely earned her _r-reh_ rings, and in such a fashion!No honor, these beasts!But then she looked again, she could see the heat unreduced, shallow movements of the chest.Her sister looked to be sleeping deeply, and R-r-rhruuh's roar settled to a low pulsing growl.But her snarl quickly rose with her clan's as the captors loosed Clack)Grreeh(click) from her unseen cage and wrestled her to the ground, while others gently retrieved the inert Vur-r-r-r and took her into a different room.

When they had manacled (Clack)Grreeh(click) to the low table, the rectangle of warmth descended again, and the second twin ceased to struggle as if dead.R-r-rhruuh once again saw that her clan-sister seemed to sleep, but Vurrr-eh-hir-r could not.She had started to struggle against her confinement again, tearing at the invisible wall until her talons bled, and when her second daughter had stilled, had gone into a posture of grief and anguish.Vurrr-eh-hir-r, who had always been strong and an example to the diminished clan, was huddled on the bottom of her cage, hunched over and holding her throat, a low keen escaping her.

Once again the captors deactivated a cage, this time around Arrrahur-r-r.The male roared and attempted in vain to savage the creatures weighing down his limbs, but again the captors seemed to have grips like _rek-k-k-rrrg_, the tentacled and all-devouring creatures that dwelled only in the deepest pools of the fens.Their brother was manacled down, and the warmth-that-stilled descended a third time.Arrrahur-r-r struggled longer and was very vocal in his protests, but he, too, slept.

R-r-rhruuh seemed to be the only one to notice that those who were touched by the warmth-that-stilled lost consciousness rather than life.She growled the information to her clan sibs and elders, but her voice was lost as R-r-r-rahhh was taken.

It continued, each of them being wrestled into submission and put under the warmth-that-stilled, the _krreerrrrhruh_.Finally only R-r-rhruuh and Krreehhhh remained conscious or even in the room.All the others had been under the _krreerrrrhruh _and their inert bodies taken by the captors into a different room, where an unknown fate awaited.

Vurrr-eh-hir-r had put up the best fight, closely followed by Ehrrrar-r-(click)rr, who was quiet most of the time but perilous when threatened.Krreehhhh was also overpowered, and R-r-rhruuh knew it was another blow to his pride.He had led for many years now, and while the true decline of the clan had been before him, under his leadership they had dwindled further, in spite of his efforts.And in a new situation, the leader was supposed to be the risk-taker, the one who tested and headed first into danger, and he had not been able to do that caged as he was.

When Krreehhhh stilled under that strange warmth from the ceiling, R-r-rhruuh was the only one left.She would not allow the captors to harm her young if at all possible.She grew her mandibles back into a grimace in the traditional attempt to intimidate, even if she knew it wouldn't work on these creatures that so calmly wrestled warriors to the ground.She felt the invisible cage give way, and the air stirred freely around her where it had been stilled and confined.

The captors stood, obviously waiting for her to attempt to slaughter them as the rest of the clan had.R-r-rhruuh stood, a too-deep-to-hear growl rumbling in her chest.None of her family had succeeded in eluding the captors.There was no way to get out of this place, the door they had come in from was sealed and she much doubted the captors would leave something like that to chance.And if she did manage to escape, Vurrr-eh-hir-r had told them that this was likely a ship, in the void beyond the world.Better, she thought, to take this risk and go under the warmth-that-stilled proudly than be defeated by a pack of tiny things that still outmaneuvered the clan at every turn.

As she walked very deliberately toward the low table, she reflected on what she knew of properly trained hunter-warriors, that they would never allow such a thing, and would rather die than give up pride like this.But then, warriors never hunted pregnant, and she had never trained as such, merely trying to survive in her home swamp with the rest of her undersized clan.Regain pride later, and at least this way there _was_ a chance to regain it eventually.A proper warrior would _never_ have such an attitude, but R-r-rhruuh was different.

The warmth-that-stilled, translating to _krreerrrrhruh_, descended once more, and as R-r-rhruuh slipped into unwilling sleep, she thought she saw it descend again and focus over her lower body.

Fiona looked up from her book again, and saw the Abductors return with a dozen unconscious Predators.She furrowed her brows as she noted the neon-green blood on the nails of some of them, as if they'd torn at a wall unsuccessfully for some time.She looked through her window at the Abductors with a scowl that clearly stated _We are going to talk about this later._The Abductor alien unlucky enough to be caught in her gaze had the honesty to turn bluish with embarrassment.She'd gotten an understanding with the scientists studying her.They knew she was and would treat her as a person and an equal, even if they were required by their lab rules to restrict her and keep from treating her as more than an experiment.If she gave them an opinion, they listened, even if they couldn't record it in their notes that it was her idea.

Fiona watched as the Predators were set down gently in the room that preceded their simulated environment.One of the tall and scarred ones, that she assumed was an older female, had badly torn talons and even in the bioscan-induced sleep, her brow ridges seemed to express anger, grief.Fiona furrowed her own brows.Like she kept telling the Abductors, they really would get better results at a lower cost of life and limb or stress to the animals if they asked sapient specimens beforehand, maybe got volunteers.Even if they were Predators, they deserved that.

Fiona watched the group, keeping vigil over the unconscious aliens in the next enclosure.They aroused her curiosity most fiercely, and fortunately, there were walls between them so she could indulge her interest without fear for her life.Of course, curious or not, the strange child _would_ run like a hare if she were ever near one of them unguarded.She preferred to think of it as knowing when to retreat.

She knew the bio-scan sleep wouldn't last more than thirty minutes, she'd undergone it herself.The first to wake were the smaller two. Fiona watched, as the other Predators slowly woke, shaking off the soporific effects of the scanning-field.

They all seemed fairly traumatized.The two small ones, each taller than most men, who had woken first touched each other as if to see if the other was real.Fiona watched the scarred elder female who had particularly torn claws, and as soon as she roused, the big Predator looked around and seeing the small ones, rushed them and seemed to inspect them worriedly.The others woke quickly, and seemed to be far more nervous than before.But what struck Fiona was the interaction between the Predator aliens.

They looked amazed to see one another, checking to see if everyone else was real, and constantly touching one another on the arm or side of the face as if to reassure the point.A gesture was much exchanged, pressing their palms to where the breastbone ended, and Fiona recalled from the second movie the injured hunter had inserted a needle of sorts there.Perhaps, she mused in a side-train of thought, there was a big vein or something there.But she dismissed that for later speculation and observed on.

They seemed to be truly worried for one another.The elder female hadn't really looked up from the smaller pair.To Fiona, it looked as though if the smaller pair hadn't been a bit too large for it, she would have held them.They were gentler with each other than she expected.

On she watched, knowing the aliens, if the movies were anywhere close to accurate, killed for sport, and pitying them all the same.

Vurrr-eh-hir-r finally looked up from her daughters and the eldest inspected the others of her clan.Females kept up the breeding cycle until the day they died, so none looked askance at a creaky-boned ancient with a child clinging to her _r-reh_.

Mandibles were relaxed in grins, drawn in grimaces of worry and fear, and a plethora of other expressions.Every member was amazed that first of all he or she was alive, and second that everyone else was, and third that none of them showed any injury further than the claws torn from battering their prisons.Pride, however, was a different matter.

The head of the clan felt shamed that he had not been able to prevent the events, believing he had failed his duty to be first into a dangerous new situation.R-r-rhruuh would not hear of such a thing, knowing that there was no way that any of them had any control of the situation.But that, in it's own way, was worse.Warriors always had some control over the situation, whether it be by hunting, escaping, or even suiciding.This lack of options, out of all other possible situations, unnerved them.

R-r-rhruuh was included in the touching to reassure that everyone was really there, and she permitted her siblings to feel her youngling stir.It took a while to calm after the experience they had just gone through, and R-r-rhruuh took up her task and captured their attention with the second part of Hehrrrrehhh the Spine-Breaker and the Demon of the Saltwater Caps.They could discuss the atrocious behavior of the captors later, but for now it was her part as the clan's tale-keeper to keep them calmed and thinking, and the best way was to practice her craft.

Some hours later, after the second and third part of the long recitation was done, R-r-rhruuh released the calming hold she had over her clan's attention.Tired, she left her siblings and elders to sort things out amongst themselves.The tale-keeper went deep into the enclosure, where her own small territory was, where no one would disturb her without asking unless they wanted new scars.

The false trees where as strong as those of home, though nowhere near as gargantuan.She reached the lowest of the broad branches, wide near the trunk where in true trees it let animals and hunters nest in them. R-r-rhruuh clicked her mandibles in the sort of purr-chuckle that one usually heard when a hunter was about to pounce.She wanted natural sleep, not induced by an alien _thing_ that obeyed the strange and inexplicable captors.

Eighteen hours later, a full sleep, R-r-rhruuh slid open her eyes, taking in the carefully regulated warmth of her surroundings, the cool false-tree beneath her, her own heat.The one who had never trophy-hunted stretched and went in search of her clan.

Her brothers were all practicing, though they seemed to mostly be working off nervous energy.Grrre-e-ehre supervised the younger males in their practice-scuffle, and her sisters were all asleep, though Hruuuhreeh(click) stirred uneasily.Probably dreaming of the situation they were all in.

Krreehhhh and Vurrr-eh-hir-r were unseen, but there wasn't a large enough space in their prison to lose track of them.Vurrr-eh-hir-r, long ago, had been the child of City-Dwellers.Among the swamp-dwelling clan, there had been a child, undersized and clumsy who had kept up with the other young and out of the bellies of fen-predators by sheer luck.But the child had been clever, often figuring out simple repairs to armor and weapons that would have been expensive to take to a City-Dweller, and among _them_ had been a strong child more suited to the life of a warrior.As happened when it was best for the clan, the babe had been given to the City-Dwellers where it would survive and have a purpose, and the strong land-dweller child had been adopted into the clan, the clan name scarred on the backs of her wrists as any other born to the family.Vurrr-eh-hir-r knew more than most swamp-dwellers about technology and was probably talking with Krreehhhh with her opinions on the captors.

R-r-rhruuh went to the front of the enclosure, curious as to what the _huurrrehhhhhra_ was doing.She would wonder more on the clan's situation in time, but now the idea was too raw.She needed to think on other things for now.

The tale-keeper found the _huurrrehhhhhra_ in the corner where their windows met, sitting and sleeping at the same time, its head resting on its hand.She settled onto the ground to watch inquisitively.The fascinating little creature was making a strange sound in its slumber, a sort of high, smooth growl.It was rhythmic, following a pattern that repeated and varied and repeated itself, and R-r-rhruuh wondered what it meant.

Fiona woke to find herself humming in her sleep.Still not quite awake despite her open eyes, she continued.It was an old Stan Rodgers song her father played._We're homeward bound, from the Arctic ground, rolling down to old Maui . . ._

She finished that song, and still half-sleeping, she slid into another Stan Rodgers song._Leave her, Johnny, leave her, oh leave her, Johnny, leave her, for the voyage is done and the winds don't blow, and it's time for us to leave her . . ._

Finishing that, Fiona raised her head from her hand, and saw the tall Predator with the brilliant grey eyes watching her.She, or at least Fiona had decided to assume the tall ones were female, was right next to the glass-like substance that separated them.The mottled Predator was sitting on the ground, her- well, not chin, but the bottom of her jaw, resting on her fist as she watched.Fiona mimicked her, facing the huge alien that standing towered four feet over her.

The grey-eyed observer raised her brows a bit, and Fiona mimicked that as well.Smiling, Fiona began humming again, the beautiful sound from the beginning and dramatic moments of _Gladiator_.Finishing that, she started on the music of her favorite movie, _Dragonheart_, and eventually slid into the background music of the howling scene in _Balto_.

_Why am I humming at a dangerous alien?One that's got a wall between us, but still, why am I humming to her?_

_Don't know,_ she conversed with herself as she often did._Indulge my curiosity while I can, probably.Oh, silly one, trying to find peace with everyone, you'd probably get killed in five minutes using your notions outside your head.That's the problem, all my notions would only work through mind-to-mind conversation where one couldn't harm the other while they spoke.Plus, my stories get so boring when I use that to fix everything.But enough of that.Use the opportunity and see how she reacts to being hummed to._

Fiona stopped humming and switched to softly singing, one of the Stan Rodgers songs from when she was still mostly asleep. 

"Leave her, Johnny, leave her, oh leave her, Johnny, leave her, for the voyage is done and the winds don't blow, and it's time for us to leave her . . ."

R-r-rhruuh listened to the _huurrrehhhhhra_ making its rhythmic high growl, wondering all the while what in the name of the Cold God's realm it could mean.Suddenly, the _huurrrehhhhhra _switched to a different sound, but the same pattern as one of its earlier ones.It sounded as though it were speaking in a pattern, its strange voice and words fitting the sequence of the smooth growl it had produced earlier.

R-r-rhruuh leaned forward, hearing it clearer.What a strange sound!But it was interesting, almost pleasant.She watched and listened to the now-forbidden prey-beast._But it doesn't seem like a beast.Too clever._

She allowed the many questions she had about the species flood through her mind, drowning the anxiety of the captors' effortless dealing with the clan.

"Do you have clans, little creature?Do you have packs, or herds, or do you walk alone?What is your world like?"

The one-sided conversation continued."Why were you called great prey before the Vrererererer(crack)grurrrr(click) forbade hunters to walk your world?You seem rather undersized for that."Of course, R-r-rhruuh reminded herself, the captors were even smaller and they had managed to capture a dozen strong people without them even knowing.

"How can a creature with such flat teeth be reputed to be so vicious?Little creature, why is there such fuss over you?I have never trained to hunt, not properly, but I cannot see much reason to pursue you for your head, hide, and heart."

Fiona looked at the Predator as she momentarily ran out of tings to hum.She wanted so to be able to speak with it, ask it things!

"Why do you hunt, strange alien?And how did the government know of you and conceal your hunts?Did they have a hand in the movies-they must have, but why make us think something so dangerous was a mere tale for entertainment of strange children like me who love interesting monsters?"

The one-sided conversation continued."What environment suits you?Do you run in packs or prides like wolves and lions, or do you walk alone like most cats?Do you have a larval stage, or live-born?And, if that part is accurate, how are you so invincible?"

Fiona watched and listened.The grey-eyed Predator seemed to speak to herself, a low murmur of deep, gurgling growls and occasional soft clicks as she stared intently at her.The red-haired, bespectacled girl stared back.At such close quarters, she noticed something that she hadn't seen before.

In the movies, the aliens had had something that looked like black rubber rings around their necks.But all these in the enclosure had bare, pale-green throats, although some had a pale yellow tint that was the same over their chests and stomachs.Odd, but without the column or rings, the Predators' throats looked as soft and easily torn as a human's.

"So you're not invulnerable," mused Fiona."I say you're just as mortal as I am.I read fanfiction of the movies, and you hunters seem to be shown as god-like, absolutely unstoppable.Horse feathers, I say.No, wait a minute, horses have feathers, the extra fur on the joints of drafters.Cat feathers, then."

Knowing she couldn't understand her anyway, Fiona kept up a low chatter of questions as she watched the grey-eyed Predator.Eventually, though, one of the others came up behind the observer, and Fiona listened as the huge scarred female growled a statement to the younger one across the window from her.

R-r-rhruuh reluctantly rose from her place across the window from the _huurrrehhhhhra_, as Grrre-e-ehre told her the clan was going to meet and discuss what had happened.She looked back at the _huurrrehhhhhra_ wistfully, and was surprised to see it make shooing motions and speak a few words in its weird language.It then gave what Grrre-e-ehre had grudgingly told was a grin.

Grrre-e-ehre didn't say anything, but as her granddaughter went to join the clan, she grimaced a little at the _huurrrehhhhhra_ that had captured R-r-rhruuh's interest.The little creature seemed to try and communicate with them at times, and that was not something the elder liked.

Fiona watched the two leave, and looked about her.A book lay next to her, and she remembered she had been reading before nodding off.Deciding to leave that for a while, she retrieved her sketchbook and opened it to a particular page.She had just been to the library when the Abductors had taken her, and she had had her too-heavy bag of around thirty books and her sketchbook with her.Which was fortunate, it had helped keep her from going raving batty over the weeks she'd been here.

She turned to the page where she was keeping notes on her neighbors.Fiona wanted to try and keep track of which was which, and so she wrote distinguishing features down and occasionally made up a name for the Predator noted.

She looked to the line where it said, Grey eyes, deep scarring over much of the body, bad temper and glares at me a lot, female.Fiona had finally thought up a name for the elder female who seemed to dislike her.She wrote Sekhmet next to the description, for the grouchy old female made her think of a war-like powerful being, and it had been many years since lion-faced Sekhmet's glory days.Plus the way her eyes seemed to flash like fire whenever she got a glimpse of Fiona.

She looked down at the other names and descriptions she had.There was Atlas, named for the broader shoulders he had.That one seemed quieter than the rest, taking things with a minimum of the growls and clicks that seemed to constitute their language.The two other younger females, Fiona called Artemis and Valkyrie.Artemis was wiry and tall, with large teeth adorning her mandibles.Valkyrie was rather bear-like in her build, with longer dreadlock-like objects than the others, to the middle of her back.

Fiona scanned up the list of descriptions and names.Scarred elder male, orange eyes, throats bared to him was simply Leader, because that seemed to be his role.Younger male, scarred face, yellow throat and stomach, orange eyes was called Hephastus for the scarred smith-god.And younger female, gray eyes, thicker waist and stomach, inquisitive was named Athena.

After a time, Fiona saw the Abductors in the hall again, and grinned.The window opened, allowing her to step into the hallway and follow her escort of diminutive aliens.She followed them through the labyrinthine maze that was their exploration vessel, passing doors that led to strange places, and enclosures housing such a variety of different life-forms that even the greatest of story-tellers would not have been able to think of them all in one life-time.

Fiona couldn't produce the squeaks that the Abductors spoke in, and they could barely fit their throats around earthling vowels and consonants, so this was still necessary to communicate.She stepped into the room and allowed them to place the small, round objects along her forehead, then settled into the chair provided.Across from her sat an Abductor, she couldn't tell which one it was outside of the mind-to-mind speech, and she closed her eyes as the machinery made a low din and her mind was extended and merged, ever so slightly.

She could feel the presence of the scientist, and mindspoke the polite greeting she had been taught.

_Greet thee, explorer.May the Librarian add your discoveries to the knowledge collected to be known to those passed._

_Greet thee, explorer and tale-maker._

Fiona considered what to say.The scientist waited patiently. 

_I'd like to ask you about my neighbors.You see, we have two of those moving-illustrated-tales about them, or at least how we've perceived them.I don't know how accurate the movies are, but I am curious and would learn more of them._

_Show the tales, please.These will be great for the notes; a record of how another sapient species perceives the newest specimens!_

_Now, I really don't know how accurate they are, until I saw them next door I assumed them to be merely fiction.But, I'll show you.And I want to speak with them._

_WHAT?!_

_You heard me, sir.Madame.Whatever.I would speak with the aliens to the right of my enclosure.I have question for them._

_Yes, but- but-_

_Say it's an experiment in seeing how they and we react to being exposed to aliens aside from you lot.Besides, I know that you don't actually converse unless drawn into it by the new species at the other side of the telepath-machinery.I don't know if they'd be so willing to speak with you or anyone.Then again, I could be wrong, but still.I'm very good at drawing out a conversation from someone reluctant.You know that very well!_

__(Resigned) _Fine.Now, please show the moving-image-tales you say are about specimens numbers 52346-52352's kind.This should be interesting!_

Fiona smiled, and displayed in her mind for the scientist the opening of _Predator_.

She had what her parents called a photographic and phonographic memory.Fiona just called it being able to replay her favorite movies and songs and books within her skull whenever she liked.It also helped to figure the look of a scene she was writing, or a creature created for her story-universes.But she dismissed the pride of her memorial skills as she replayed into the shared mental area the first notice of something unusual, the corpses hanging like cattle in slaughterhouses.

The scientist was rather amazed at the end.

_That looked so real!_

_Don't worry, it's just fake blood and a tall man in a suit._

_How do you make such realistic illusions? _

__I _don't.The film-makers do, and this was over forty years ago, my time.Things are even better now.But this is only half, there's the second one.I love the second one best, it shows more of the neat aliens.Of course, now I know they're real, so that's different, but when I believed them to be just movies- never mind, I'm babbling.On to the second one!_

And so she played _Predator 2_ in her mind.

The scientist was fascinated.Fiona reminded it that she really didn't know if the films and the actual Predators had anything in common but looks, but it reminded her that if the film maker was going to base a movie on an actual alien species, they'd probably use the same general story as what actually happened.

_Maybe.So you _will_ arrange it so I can speak with them?_

_Tale-maker child, you have given us a wealth of information on you and your kind, far more so than what we can usually gain because the specimens panic and close off their minds.I think I can arrange it._

_Lovely._She sent the sound of a purr at the scientist, then waited as the machinery was disengaged.Fiona Markovski was rather pleased with the results of this encounter with the Abductors.


	5. Part the Fifth

Part the Fifth

Part the Fifth

The clan was gathered far back in the enclosure, discussing the events that had happened.They had waited until everyone was truly calmed; it had taken a long time.Such easy defeat was just not done, and it was as unnerving to them as it was when a hunter replayed a _huurrrehhhhhra_'s words back at it.

"Why did they capture us in the first place?" Grrreh(click) wanted to know.

They all tried to think of some reason.The elders had never known such creatures as trophy-prey, and it was unlikely that even isolated as they were they wouldn't have heard of a new prey like this.So, unless they actually were prey, it was unlikely the clan had been captured for some sort of vengeance.And if it had been for some vengeance, surely it would be far more unpleasant in this enclosure, or the clan already dead, not merely startled and put under a strange, soporific warmth.

R-r-rhruuh wondered, reviewing all her memories of the captors.They were always scribbling on those boards.She'd heard of hunters exploring for new prey using some sort of recording device that held glyphs to note their findings, because there were only so many things the helmet could record. Could the captors be doing the same thing?Writing?

And if they were writing, _what_ were they writing?And why always around the clan?

"They're curious," she muttered.

"What?" said (Click)Greherrrr, her tall brother.

"I think they're curious.They're always writing, whenever they see us, or at least whenever we see them."

"Explain," said Krreehhhh.

R-r-rhruuh furrowed her brows, searching for words.

"They always write when they are around us.Perhaps they write _about_ us.And if they write about us, they must have some reason to, aside from exercising their wrists.I think they want to know about us."

The other eleven considered this idea.

"That could be."

"They tried not to damage us, did anyone notice that?"

"You mean aside from the skull-pain in the beginning?"

"Good point."

"What was the function of the _krreerrrrhruh_, the warmth-that-stills?"

"I don't know, maybe another way of exploring?It wasn't a torture device, it didn't hurt or injure, just put us to sleep."

"You call it not torturous, thinking your daughters are dead?" venomously snarled Vurrr-eh-hir-r.Before a dishonorable fight could spring up, breaking the codes of experienced elder may not start a fight with the less-skilled and female may not start a fight with smaller male, R-r-rhruuh distracted them with a question of, "What now?"

"I think we can only wait.Who knows, it could be an opportunity," softly spoke Ehrrrar-r-(click)rr.

Everyone looked at him.

"Opportunity?" 

"We could try to find new challenges.Is it possible to get home from here; if it is, it would definitely be a challenge.Look at these strange beasts all around, and the ones we passed when the captors took us to the _krreerrrrhruh_.Elders, do you know any of them as acknowledged prey-species?What if we could find out where they came from, and if we escaped, what if we could find our way to their origins?"

R-r-rhruuh leaned forward, interested, as did the rest of the clan.Ehrrrar-r-(click)rr was so quiet that most of the time no one really noticed him, and then he surprised everyone with perspectives on situations that were not ever thought of before, and were infinitely useful.

But he had finished what he had to say, and sat silent to let them make what they would of his idea.

"Before that, we have to survive, and actually figure a way to escape," Vurrr-eh-hir-r spoke."The _krreerrrrhruh _may have been harmless, but what will they do with us next?Surely the captors would not have taken us if that was all they intended to do."

All valid points, R-r-rhruuh thought.She spoke up then.

"Like Ehrrrar-r-(click)rr pointed out," said the keeper of stories."All we can do is wait.It is a blow to pride to do nothing, but I call it patience.Let us see what happens.I think they want to find out about us, to study us.They wouldn't damage us, I don't think."

Besides, what choice have we remained unsaid.

Another day had passed.Boredom and not knowing what would happen next was beginning to fray nerves.There was only so much time one could spend at practice, particularly when one only knew and was equipped for unarmed combat.R-r-rhruuh spun the story of the Spine-Breaker and the Saltwater Demon, but it only had nine episodes in it.She had myriad others and was capable of creating more, but it annoyed her that they went through the stories so fast.But there wasn't anything else to do.

R-r-rhruuh, wanting to avoid others for the moment, went back into the deeper part of the enclosure where her territory was.Clan was life to her as any other, but like any other, she liked time on her own.They were a temperamental people, tempers flaring quickly and easily, usually cooled after a short brawl.

R-r-rhruuh settled into what had become her favored false-tree, the best for dozing in.Ehrrrar-r-(click)rr's and Grrreh(click)'s territories were next to hers, so she sometimes glimpsed them waking or going to sleep.As she settled onto the broad base of the limb, she saw Grrreh(click) with something in his hands on a branch in his territory.

She raised her head, tossing it a little to get her _r-reh_ out of where they caught in her mandibles.Twisting slightly to balance her weight on the branch, she raised her torso to see Grrreh(click) better.

He was sliding his claws along an object in his hands, and R-r-rhruuh was curious.

"Brother," she called.He looked up for a moment, acknowledging her, and returned his attention to the object he slid his claws over in a repetitive motion.

"What are you doing?"

"Carving."

R-r-rhuuh decided this required investigation.There was nothing to carve.The trees weren't real wood, and there was no bone in the meat that appeared through the wall at intervals.

"Carving what?"

"A _grrerhhrrr_."A small beast that burrowed beneath the roots of the swamp-trees at home, it was something one needed to wait for as it made up its mind to come out, for the instant one moved to catch it, it darted back deep into the burrow and a fine treat was lost.

"Come see, if you like."

"I meant, what material are you carving," said R-r-rhruuh as she walked across the marshy ground to her clan-brother's territory.

She joined him on the branch, and Grrreh(click) showed her the small creature he was carving.

"Where did you find something to carve?"

"Broke off a branch of the false tree.It's strong, but not under an edge.I can carve it with my claws."

"Doesn't hold an edge, does it?"

"No."

"Hell frost."

"Interesting mood you're in."

R-r-rhruuh settled on the branch."The elders aren't the only ones frustrated.I'm insatiably curious about all these things and creatures around us, but that doesn't change the fact that I am not here of my own will and we have no means of escape."

"I dislike this as well, sister.Try carving, it helps pass time."

She relaxed her jaws into a grin.Grrreh(click) was a good brother.R-r-rhruuh gave him an affectionate touch to where his ribs ended, the big vein that supplied the abdomen, and he returned the affection gesture.She left the branch and returned to her own territory to sleep.

The grey scientists marched down the hall.The newest test would tell them a great deal about these new specimens, and give them information about them for a long time after implantation.The head scientist of Wing 68 quickly led the team toward the window of enclosure 435 where specimens 52346 through 52352 dwelled.Activating the individual force-fields, they prepared to enter and retrieve.

Everyone was stopped short in whatever motions they were making by slamming into solid air again.This made it interesting for Arrrahur-r-r and R-r-r-rahhh, as they were taking out their sibling-like dislike of each other in a sparring match and were rather tangled as they tried to strangle one another.The solid air surrounded them and started to move and separate them, and molded itself into the same cages it had been when they had gone to the _krreerrrrhruh_.

The enclosure reverberated with growls rising into echoing roars as once again the clan found themselves captured.The captors came into the prison and again took the floating invisible cages to follow them as they walked the halls of the ship.

This time, different members reacted differently.R-r-r-rahhh, Grrre-e-ehre, Arrrahur-r-r and the twins were violently and unreasoningly attacking their cage walls.The thought of being defeated by the tiny captors and wrestled under the _krreerrrrhruh_ terrified them.This time there wasn't even the normal dose of anger mixed in the fear; the elder, the twins, and the younger adults had expended most of the fury at their captors in practice, and it was hard to stay continually furious for days and days.The others simply growled, knowing the cages were unbreakable.

R-r-rhruuh was silent, watching the captors and the way the group was traveling.She wanted to calm the clan, but she knew it was useless.At this point the only thing they could hear was their hearts.She looked to Ehrrrar-r-(click)rr, and found her clan brother looking toward her, as he tried to slow his breathing.He had a look of confusion and slight admiration.

"How are you not frightened?" he said, the hunter who rarely spoke.

She didn't have a chance to tell him that she was in absolute terror over what the captors could do to her child, her, and her clan, as they arrived at whatever fiendish destination the captors had brought them to.R-r-rhruuh straightened her back and snarled as the door way opened to whatever the captors had planned next.

The head scientist came into the lab and motioned for the others to follow it.Using the blood samples gathered in the bioscan induced sleep and the scans that showed the nerve tissue, they had concocted an anesthetic, which would be necessary for this next procedure.

The group, towing the caged specimens, entered the lab and started preparing for the implantation surgery, sterilizing things and setting out the implants.In a very short time, the scientists were ready, in their sterility seals and about to begin.

Once again, they would tackle the specimens one at a time.They would start with the one the scans had shown was pregnant, in hopes that it would repeat the nonviolent submission and that maybe, just maybe, the others would follow its lead.The head scientist released the force field cage around it, and waited.

R-r-rhruuh felt the cage give way, and her family saw and stilled in their attempts to escape their cages.She stood, glaring at the captors, spine straight in absolute hostility.This time their intentions did not look in the least harmless.There were blades of strange shapes and other, less nameable things arranged around another low table, like the one under the _krreerrrrhruh_.She would not make this any easier for them than she had to.And that included advancing and starting the fight.

The scientists watched as the specimen stood, glaring down at them with arms crossed over its broad chest in a gesture that seemed to universally mean belligerence.One of the scientists had the anesthetic behind its back, and they all watched the tall, muscular animal snarl.They expected it-she, to use the gender pronoun that showed up in alien languages-to either walk toward them in submission or attack, but she did neither.

One of the specimens behind growled something guttural, and the one they were prepared to implant first turned her head slightly without taking her eyes off the scientists.She growled something back, and turned her full attention back to them.

"Why aren't you fighting?Why are you just standing there?" hissed Hruuuhreeh(click).

R-r-rhruuh turned her head slightly, just enough that her sister could see her acknowledgement while not letting the captors out of her sight.

"It's futile.The door, they've likely got guards, and I'll not have them hurt my young trying to escape."

Shocked, Hruuuhreeh(click) silenced, as R-r-rhruuh stood tall and the captors advanced slightly.

R-r-rhruuh snarled at the advance, and they halted, but soon they started forward again.She growled deeper, rumbling in her chest and starting to rethink not fighting.The captors ignored her warning this time and darted forward, earning a blow as the others followed.R-r-rhruuh didn't have a chance to fight as a sharp sting was felt in the back of her hand.

Her hand went numb, and then her arm, and suddenly her body wouldn't obey the simplest of commands.She could still think, and send out impulses to move, but it was as though her limbs had lost all of her will and bowed only to gravity.And her mind soon felt . . . strange . . . thoughts wouldn't stay, they floated and flowed, evading mental grasp long enough to make any sense . . .

R-r-rhruuh watched detachedly as the group of captors hauled her as gently as they could onto the low table, and picked up instruments.They touched a sharp point between her ribs, somewhere in the middle of the ribcage, and she didn't feel the cut.Not really concerned with what they were doing to her, the clan's storyteller drifted into a sort of dream.

She was pulled back to her real surroundings when the captors touched a strange little rod to the small cut between her ribs.The tiny line disappeared as she watched quizzically, but her thoughts again slipped away from her as they carried her and the air turned solid around her again.

R-r-rhruuh watched as her clan was treated the same way, stung by the darting captors and going sleepy, detached, slightly confused over what was going on and did it matter to them.The captors all pressed the sharp points between the ribs and slipped something tiny, so tiny it didn't register to normal vision, in.R-r-rhruuh had a moment of slight connection, looking at where one of her brothers, Arrrahur-r-r, maybe, was having the cut between his ribs healed, and then at her own ribcage were she saw no heat disturbance, but under her fingers a tiny indentation appeared.But in an instant, again her thoughts flowed away like water and the small amount of muscle control she'd gained dissipated, and she went back into her waking dream.

Soon the captors had finished with every one of the clan, and they were all re-caged.The tiny things that had managed to capture the clan of warriors led the cages along the corridor, and R-r-rhuuh couldn't help but feel she was swaying, never mind that the cage didn't move in the air and that she was slumped on the bottom and not standing.

Her thoughts were a little clearer now, and she was lucid enough to notice that her captor was leading her cage a different way than her clan.She furrowed her brows and started to growl . . . and then her mind was lost in the fuzzy, floating feeling again.The captors brought her into the room and gently put her on the low table.She looked up at the ceiling, and saw a rectangle of warmth descend.

_Oh.The _krreerrrrhruh . . .

The scientists had finished implanting the monitoring devices into the specimens, and were now taking most of them back to their enclosure, while the pregnant one was taken to be rescanned to see how it had progressed.They had decided to switch the usual implantation area from the arm to deep in the chest cavity, because intelligent animals had a tendency to figure out where they were and would occasionally tear at their own flesh to remove the devices.

The human specimen that had thoroughly entranced and won over the scientists looked out from the window of her enclosure and contorted her face in a scowl.But then her expression faded into one of sorrow, and resignedness.She knew there was very little chance of the specimens willingly submitting to testing, and she realized that she could not convince the scientists to avoid their research for anything less than inhumane injury.

The specimens were settled into their enclosure again, limp as rag dolls.The monitoring devices for which they had been drugged would tell heart rate, blood pressure, breathing rate, and other medical details appropriate to the species, like if the two hearts were synchronized.And they would last, quite likely, for a long while into their bearers' lives.

Soon the scientist towing the pregnant female's cage came and settled it with the rest, just as she was starting to regain some motion in her limbs, and shared the scan results with the others.

Fiona watched and shook her head.Doubtless, there had just been some sort of surgery, as the Predators were drugged out of their minds.She was thankful that by the time of her abduction physical tests and examinations were pretty much complete on humans, and the Abductors were now trying to figure out if Earthlings were a mature enough species to handle verifiable and widespread contact from others.She had implanted all the suggestions she could in the minds of her scientist hosts, and now would have to wait for them to implement change in the methods used dealing with sapients.

Eh.Their methods could be a lot worse.But still, she was warning them, that they really would get better results with volunteers and a much better chance of not eventually starting a war with a species miffed at such treatment.

Fiona again kept vigil over the inert aliens, watching as they twitched and eventually regained muscle control with a shiver.The one she'd named Athena for her grey eyes and inquisitiveness, got to her feet and staggered drunkenly.Fiona pressed her hand to the glass-like separation and furrowed her brows in concern.Athena leaned against the wall of the fore-enclosure, the room that had been there before the simulated environment, quite close to Fiona's window.

The girl stood and looked at the Predator.She was leaning against the wall heavily, a huge mottled form out of a nightmare, and seemed incredibly vulnerable.She clutched at her thick stomach, and Fiona wondered exactly what the Abductors had done.She saw a tiny scar between the ribs of Athena, and as the other Predators woke and staggered upright or turned over, she saw the same mark on them all.Hmm.An implant, likely, to measure things like blood pressure and other such details.Fiona had been very good at ferreting out information from the Abductor scientists during the forced telepathic communications, getting them to speak to her like a person and not just a lab rat to be observed.

She watched as Athena slid down to a crouching position, still clutching her stomach, and the others came over to her as well as they were able.The grey-eyed Predator had recovered first; the others were still unsteady, staggering like newborn foals but with much less grace.They managed to make their way over to Athena, the whole eleven of them, and sort of collapsed near her.She settled on the ground again, leaning against the window.

Fiona watched all this, wondering why the rest of the dozen clustered around the one she called Athena.At the moment, all of them were trying to regain their breath, or so it seemed to her.They were almost trembling, whether in fear, or exhaustion, or even an allergic reaction to whatever sedative the Abductors had used, she couldn't tell.

She crouched down, right next to Athena.Valkyrie was closest to the grey-eyed Predator, and they shared that odd gesture that Fiona was learning was an expression of affection.As the group recovered, they shared touches and gestures to insure that everyone was all right.They brushed one another's face and arms with their knuckles, touched foreheads together.They were very worried for each other here, Fiona saw.

But why did they cluster so around Athena?, she wondered as she saw Leader and Sekhmet touch the grey-eyed's abdomen.Atlas and the others continued this gesture, and Fiona concentrated, trying to figure . . .

Ah.So her theory was correct.Unless there was some sort of sea-horse thing going on, the tall ones were the females.But enough on that.

The Predators were regaining their strength, one or two of the ones she hadn't named getting to their feet and going off into the trees and the mist that pervaded the enclosure.Sekhmet was speaking with Athena, again in an incomprehensible mix of guttural growls and clicks.The two crouched together, the scarred elder doing most of the talking.Eventually Sekhmet left Athena to tend others of the group.

Fiona watched them recover, feeling the scars between their ribs and going off into the mists of the enclosure.The mists shifted between a thin layer over the ground and a dense fog worthy of a Jack-the-Ripper movie, depending on the time of- well, day or night didn't mean much in space, but depending on the time.Athena stayed behind, after sharing an affectionate gesture and baring her throat to Leader.

The grey eyed Predator settled by the window, not really looking at Fiona or anything else, resting forehead on hand.Fiona pressed her palm to the separation, and unconsciously began to hum.

R-r-rhruuh looked up.The little _huurrrehhhhhra_ was at the window; before she had been too confused to notice.It was making that smooth high growl again, and looking at her with its brow contorted in a strange manner.

"Not now, little creature, I can't play with you now," she said.It was a cute little thing, sort of. But then, _vrerrrl_, the small and graceful things that leapt from the highest branches tree to tree, were deadly poisonous and temperamental.Looks could be deceiving.All the tales of _huurrrehhhhhra_ showed them as violent, brutal beings with no sense of honor, a species that had broken the instinct of automatic mercy; if their opponent submitted, they were quite content to continue in killing them.Her own species had also broken that instinct, but some shreds of it remained and were incorporated into the honor codes.

The _huurrrehhhhhra_ continued its strange sound, crouching down right across the separation from her.R-r-rhruuh recalled a story of Vurrr-eh-hir-r's, saying that City Dwellers had something like the stuff that made up the separator, but that it was brittle and broke into sharp shards.The strange substance between enclosures was not breakable.

R-r-rhruuh stayed on the ground, trying to take in what had happened, semi-ignoring the _huurrrehhhhhra_ and its high smooth growl.Those _creatures_, the diminutive captors, had done something to her and her clan after a quick sting had sent her into a dream, a bit like what supposedly happened after a lightning strike.She wouldn't know, having never been touched by the Goddess's spear.And after they had sent her mind far away from its normal state, they had cut between her ribs and slipped something in, sealing it.And the worst part was that drug-dazed as she had been, she hadn't cared.

The others of the clan had gone off to absorb what had happened, try and organize their own memories and thoughts before speaking of it with the clan.This was humiliating, and kept getting worse and worse.That anything beyond a god could have such power was frightening.She didn't know what had been placed in her chest, and neither did her clan-sibs or elders.Was it harmful?Would whatever it was lay dormant for years and then somehow kill them, messily like the young of _greh-verar-r-r-r-r_?Would it harm her youngling?

R-r-rhruuh found herself involuntarily making a small noise of distress in her throat, and shook herself.The Cold God devoured those who allowed themselves to be controlled by fear.And she would not allow that.Yes, the situation was out of hand and potentially dangerous, but she had responsibilities and despair would prevent her from fulfilling them.

Thus heartened, the storyteller noticed the _huurrrehhhhhra_'s sounds again.She looked up, directly at the strange creature, which faltered for a moment, and continued.It repeated a growl-pattern that it had done before, and then faded into a different one, a new one.R-r-rhruuh was intrigued, and settled to listen for a while.Her kin would still be trying to sort themselves out, and she wanted to enjoy some time before reliving the experience she had just had.

The _huurrrehhhhhra_ started to make that high growl in an old pattern, but for the first time it really caught R-r-rhruuh's attention.It sounded just like the sound a mother made under water to call her child back to her, a flowing, pulsing sound that vibrated the water.She came closer to the window, turning her head to the side in curiosity.

Fiona was again humming the beautiful sounds at the beginning and dramatic moments of _Gladiator_.Athena had looked up at that, and moved closer.

_Hmm.I think I've found a success._

She continued, and the grey-eyed Predator who might just be breeding listened.Fiona continued to hum until she went into a weird pitch and nearly choked.This startled both of them, and the simultaneous jerk that both of them gave was enough to start her smothering cackles.

She managed, barely, to contain her mirth, and watched Athena.Fiona blinked, and then listened, as the Predator wore a look of concentration, and then started to try her hand at humming.

R-r-rhruuh had listened to the _huurrrehhhhhra_, and made a decision.She had never really had practice at complex mimicry; that was usually a talent serving a trophy hunter to unnerve or lure prey.She had merely the meager talent everyone had at mimicry of sounds to fool food-beasts.Maybe it was time to try.

She drew breath, and experimented with the muscles in her throat.Finding what seemed to be a promising arrangement, she made her first experimental sound.

It was like the _huurrrehhhhhra_'s, following the pattern at least, but much deeper and a little rougher.R-r-rhruuh altered her throat configuration a little, and the growl in it smoothed out to the soft tone the _huurrrehhhhhra_ had used.The depth was okay; the _huurrrehhhhhra_ had been a little high pitched compared to the child-call she had compared it to.

The sound reminded her of her own dam, dead twenty years.R-r-rhruuh remembered being small, a tiny youngling, not yet seven years, hearing her dam call her back to her shoulder.Younglings older than a year often journeyed from their mothers' shoulders in the water, pursuing some small snack or eye-catching creature, but they could find their way back following the water's vibrations.Her dam had had a deep call that she could hear from half a pond and more away.

Her youngling stirred, and R-r-rhruuh snapped out of her recollections, and looked at the _huurrrehhhhhra_.

"I think I know what to call you, little creature," she spoke."Hrrr-eh-r-r-rrrr," Stirs Memories.


	6. Part the Sixth

Part the Sixth

Part the Sixth

I have neglected to mention that this takes place in about 2030 AD.

The clan had met and talked.No one knew what had been implanted, and no one was not afraid of the captors now.The fear still had anger mixed in, but the former was becoming the dominant emotion.Krreehhhh was ashamed that he could not keep his clan safe, but R-r-rhruuh still refused to hear of it, as well as the rest.Vurrr-eh-hir-r growled that she had given him this position because she thought he would do his very best, and she would follow no other.

The drug that the captors had stung them with still had them a little shaky, especially the twins.The sisters stayed very close to one another, as if fearing the other might disappear.Hruuuhreeh(click) stayed close to her clan-sisters; the two were only twenty, barely into the semi-adulthood earned by one's first food-kill.They were frightened.They never came out and said it, but it was impossible not to be.

The clan stayed together in the space that had become their meeting place.All they could do was wait and see.

It was another day before the captors started their experiments again.At this point, everyone knew the futility of fighting the invisible cages.They saved their strength for when they were released.

The room they were brought into was different from the others.It was much bigger, for one thing, and there was no low table.The clan was mistrustful, not knowing what would happen in such a place.The captors set their cages upon the floor, and backed away.A wall of some sort came into being between the hunters and the tiny aliens.

R-r-rhruuh crouched low in her cage, jaws drawn to reveal her fanged inner mouth.She growled as the captors disappeared behind the wall, and squalled in shock as her cage walls went black, blocking her view of her clan and surroundings.

In their own cages, the hunters bellowed as the walls went solid and opaquely cold.Grrreh(click) growled in his small enclosure, trapped by walls of solid, cold-colored air.He brushed up against the black cage wall, expecting to feel icy chill.He looked down at where his arm had touched the wall, confused.It was supposed to be cold!It was as black as the rainy season nights!But it felt just like the air had in the false swamp they were kept in.

Grrreh(click) felt the walls give way, and he stumbled out into a black, cold-colored nothingness.He could not see his clan, his sisters and brothers and elders; all he could see was this void of not-cold that felt solid beneath his feet.

The scientists watched the specimen in the heat-shielded room, where the floor was designed to move against the runner.They checked the temperature, hearts rate, and blood pressure of Specimen 52349, making sure they were at the average at-rest rates recorded since implantation.

The heat shields were all in place, in the room and around the force-field cages.The force-fields not only kept the occupants from seeing each other or the test subject, but they would now block sound and the suggestive message being broadcasted into the room; at least, until it was their turn to be tested.

Grrreh(click) suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to run, as if something huge and unstoppable were behind him.He turned, and saw-

_Greh-verar-r-r-r-r!!!_

The huge monster was something that he had only heard of, in tales told by his elders.The long, sleek head ended in sharp teeth, and it slavered like a sacrifice beast in the breeding season.It was his worst ever nightmare, the thing that haunted his dreams when he was little, before his _r-reh_ had grown in at adolescence.

There was no way to fight a _greh-verar-r-r-r-r_ unarmed and alone, and a fate far, far worse than an honorable death in battle awaited those who were dragged back to its lair and mother.Those who were used as brood-stock for their larva were said to be defiled, and their bodies were never touched.The only way a hunter killed by bearing a baby _greh-verar-r-r-r-r_ got funeral rites and cremation was if the monsters' lair was burned to the ground.

He ran.

It followed.

Grrreh(click) raced, his hearts were thundering in his ears, he ran until his throat was dried out from the rapid rush of breath passing through.He could hear the thing, as he ran through the unending cold-that-was-not.The young male did not dare look back, knowing if he did, the thing would be right behind him and tear his head off.Or snatch him up to be brood-stock.

He wasn't thinking, just the unending fear that coursed through his veins, he must surely be in the realm of the Cold God!Running, ever running, until finally exhaustion forced him to stumble and fall, and he winced as his face hit the ground, waiting for the nightmare-beast to rip him apart-

But nothing did.Grrreh(click) waited on the ground, too exhausted to move.He anticipated the feel of teeth in his back; the burn of the acid-blood that the tales said ran through the _greh-verar-r-r-r-r_.

The young male, driven by the thing that had been his own worst fear in the depths of youthful slumber, lay on the ground gasping, a roaring sound through his throat as he struggled to breathe.And nothing happened.

After what seemed like an eternity, the ache in his chest subsided and his hearts slowed, he dared look up, knowing that death itself would stare him in the face.

There was nothing.Grrreh(click) was alone in the black, cold-that-should-feel-cold-but-didn't void.

One scientist said to another, watching the conclusion of the amazing display of speed and endurance from Specimen 52349, "I wish we could see whatever image his mind supplied to fit the broadcast's suggestion."

"Indeed.That would be most informative!"

"Quoting specimen 52338, 'could be worse.'"

"Hush!It's getting up now, recovering!"

Specimen 52349 was slowly regaining its breath, recorded by the device implanted mere sleep-periods ago.The gigantic alien got to its knees, chest heaving as it looked around for whatever subconscious nightmare had goaded it into displaying its velocity and stamina.It had quite thoroughly broken the records the scientists had recorded for most other bipedal humanoids.

Activating the force field, they prepared to loose another specimen of recently discovered and named Species 2345137656798.

"Should we test Specimen 52351?"

"No, nothing to jeopardize the pregnancy, no forced exercise for that one, not for testing.They seem to give themselves enough activity to suit themselves as needed."

The scientists changed the broadcast for a moment from "Run" to "Sleep," allowing Specimen 52349 to have a less traumatizing recovery from its testing.Having done so, they loosed Specimen 52352 and continued the tests.

R-r-rhruuh was apprehensive, in her dark, cold-colored cage.It should have been sucking heat from her!If the air were the color it looked, she should be cold-sick and sleepy.She had been in here for what seemed like hours, unable to hear anything but herself in the small space.She didn't know what was happening to her clan, if they were alive, what the captors had done with them, what did they intend by keeping them in the dark/cold?!

Be logical, she told herself.Even barbarian aliens have reasons for what they do.She'd figured they were curious, so maybe this was something to satisfy their curiosity.How, she had no idea, but the storyteller was not going to panic in this small space.Dead creatures did no good to them, they would have no reason to harm the clan.

_Except that beast they mutilated while they took the clan to the _krreerrrrhruh_, _said a suspicious and icily frightened voice.

_Be quiet,_ she thought back._I am going to stay calm and not get my hearts thundering.There is nothing I can do at this moment, and _you, addressing the nasty voice that was her fears, _are going to shut up._

R-r-rhruuh closed her eyes and settled on the floor of her cage feeling the warmth that belied the cold color, and worked on a story she had left half-finished, taloned hands pressed over the slight bulge of her youngling.

"Specimen 52351 seems to be relaxing itself," said the scientist observing the monitors of each implanted device's recordings.

"And Specimen 52352 appears to be fighting the suggestion."

"What?!"

It was true.The scarred, elder male appeared to be trying to face whatever image his mind had supplied for the requirements of "unstoppable, dangerous, induces flight."The technician did some fast re-programming, and added "something you literally _cannot_ win against and which will kill you without any honor in it."

"We should have had that in the programming from the start!" muttered one of the scientists."We've observed them before, and they seem to relish going into situations that are highly dangerous for the challenge and honor of it."

"It's fixed now, and the specimen is running."

"Quit bickering.I agree with Specimen 52338, we argue too much.How are we to get anything done?"

The testing was eventually completed, and the scientists were pleased to record their findings.Members of Species 2345137656798 were extremely fast runners, with great stamina and shorter recovery periods.Even the extremely old female was a racer.The twin hearts, the scientists were sure, had something to do with it.

Not only were they fast, the new species was also very strong-willed.They fought the compulsion to run, and before the repeated corrections of the broadcasted suggestion, had often tried to turn and fight the image their mind supplied.The scientists were impressed, even if they were a society where knowledge was admired over physical strength and bravery.

Specimen 52351 had spent much of the time in its enclosure keeping itself in a state of calm, only occasionally moving.It appeared to be deliberate, perhaps forcing itself not to panic, a useful skill.The scientists decided it wasn't necessary to let down the shield on its force-field to allow entry to the "sleep" suggestion, and indeed, Species 2345137656798 seemed to intensely dislike when they were forced not to function.Unnecessary sleep-inducement to 52351 would be overkill.

They deactivated the heat shields and retrieved the specimens, dozing in their individual containments save 52351, who glanced about and drew back its mandibles in a silent, grim snarl.Most of the scientists were quite used to being snapped and grimaced and nipped at by hostile specimens, but as always with a sapient race, it was downright creepy to see the intelligence in the eyes of one who had its own good reasons to bloodily rend its captors.

They brought the twelve specimens back to their enclosure, and loosed them within.

It was the first time R-r-rhruuh had been awake for return to the artificial-swamp prison.She noticed the _huurrrehhhhhra,_ that she had named Hrrr-eh-r-r-rrrr for the memories it had brought up, was watching through its window with arms crossed over chest, watching the captors impassively.She stared directly at it, and it turned its face up to meet her eyes.It moved its head a little in acknowledgement and returned its gaze to the captors that even to it came up only to the hip.It seemed, from what R-r-rhruuh had gathered of its expressions, rather displeased, brow furrowed and odd mouth compressed.

It was a waste of time to growl at the captors, but she did it anyway for appearances' sake.They left, sealing the enclosure and an instant after dissolving the invisible cages.

R-r-rhruuh was the only one awake; her clan was slumped where they lay, soundly asleep.She considered waking them, and decided they needed the rest.Nerves kept affecting her siblings and elders, and R-r-rhruuh fulfilled her duty keeping them calmer.The storyteller walked to the window separating the hunter-clan and the forbidden prey beast.

"What do they do with you, little creature?I never see the captors cage or examine you.Hrrr-eh-r-r-rrrr, what is their purpose for keeping you here?What about a small _huurrrehhhhhra_ makes the captors require your presence?"

Hrrr-eh-r-r-rrrr had no answer for R-r-rhruuh's questions, and neither did R-r-rhruuh herself.For that matter, she didn't have much knowledge of why the captors had captured _her_, just theories of curiosity and wanting, for some reason, to learn about the hunters' race.

The storyteller watched the _huurrrehhhhhra_ as it watched back.In the silence she thought about the disaster her clan was in.It was like being in the Depths, the parts of the fens where the land and water were weird, thick and unwilling to part with whatever swam in it.It was a place difficult to tell water from bank, for the land was often soft and marshy enough to trap and drown the unwary, and the water was thick enough with silt and mud and sand to stay still and not sink in for several seconds.

The clan was stuck here, with no way out.No one could figure out what would happen next, or why it happened in the first place.R-r-rhruuh clicked her mandibles in agitation, and finally settled on the ground so she could see Hrrr-eh-r-r-rrrr face to face.

Fiona watched Athena.The Predators had just had tests of some sort, but she had no idea what.But the reaction didn't seem _quite_ as miserable as it had before.

The grey-eyed settled across from her at the window, while her . . . group . . . family . . . whatever, slept.Fiona wondered as the other had moved, just what it meant when the Predator growled and clicked and gurgled; she _wanted_ to know, so much!But that could wait.

Fiona had decided to try an experiment.The others seemed to brush their knuckles across the face or arm of one they were concerned for.She and Athena were both sitting on the ground across from each other, the grey-eyed looking rather morose, in her own way.Turning her head in curiosity, Fiona proceeded with her experiment.

R-r-rhruuh jerked her head in surprise as Hrrr-eh-r-r-rrrr brushed its knuckles on the separation in a gesture of concern and comfort.Where had it learned that?!No, wait, the clan had been right in front of it the whole time.It was likely clever enough to easily learn what some things meant.

R-r-rhruuh relaxed her jaws in a grin.

"Hrrr-eh-r-r-rrrr, little creature, you surprise me," said the storyteller.She returned the gesture.

Fiona watched Athena's reaction, a startled movement and a return of the knuckle brush.She smiled, and waited for the Predator to move next.

But she caught a glimpse of movement behind Athena; her group was waking.Athena followed her gaze, and Sekhmet got to her feet and stretched.The grey-eyed rushed toward the elder, speaking quickly in her incomprehensible language.

"What happened?Were you kept in the dark box the whole time, too?"

Grrre-e-ehre shook her head, gripping her granddaughter's upper arms and answering.

"No.I don't know what happened to the rest, but the cages went black, and I never saw the others until just now; the place I was in was completely black, a void, even though it wasn't cold like it was colored.The cage released, and there was a herd of angry sacrifice beasts behind me, the leader was charging.I kept running until I fell, and I was sure they would start to eat me.But they were gone."

R-r-rhruuh brushed her granddam's arm, and looked to the others who were waking. The twins looked as though they had woken from a nightmare; the others, merely startled.

All told nearly the same story.Their cages had gone opaque and cold-colored, though the heat had stayed the same, they had been loosed into a dark void where large, dangerous animals or disasters had run them down and then disappeared.Vur-r-r-r had seen a volcano, something she'd only heard of in tales, while (Clack)Grreeh(click) had fled a pack of _vehrhriiir,_ nasty vermin that when they ran in packs could and would de-flesh a full grown, big herd-leader sacrifice beast in minutes.Ehrrrar-r-(click)rr refused to say what he had seen, from fear or embarrassment no one knew, and it would have been incomprehensibly rude to press him on it.

Once more, it was concluded that there was nothing to do but see what happened next.There seemed to be no actual harm done aside from fear and humiliation, and the embarrassment might not even be intentional.The captors could not know the pride that even a more disgraced member of the hunters' race had in being a hunter.

The tests continued, about two days apart on each one.R-r-rhruuh was also taken away separately, to the _krreerrrrhruh_, just as often.The soporific effects seemed to be harmless, so she put up with it, albeit with thunderous growls.She did not want another experience like the time the captors had drugged them and placed some strange device within their chests.That particular detail still worried her, but there almost wasn't time to worry about it, and there was no action from the implants to remind them of their existence.

The tests were no longer quite so frightening, now that the clan knew to expect them.It was less traumatizing, already knowing that they had been overcome and focusing on the task at hand.The tests seemed to measure their abilities, running, agility, and some even seemed to try and measure the cleverness of the clan-member going through them.

When the clan was in the false-swamp, things were much as they had been.The elders discussed and supervised practice, Arrrahur-r-r and R-r-r-rahhh fought, R-r-rhruuh told tales.Grrreh(click) continued to carve the material the false-trees were made of, and the idea caught on.They chose one false-tree to destroy for the carvings, and only used that one.The stuff didn't hold an edge at all, useless as a weapon of any sort, but it passed time to carve interesting shapes into it.

R-r-rhruuh watched the _huurrrehhhhhra_ and Grrre-e-ehre was annoyed but silent.The story-teller was quickly learning talented mimicry, speaking the little creature's words back to it even if she had no idea what it meant.Some were random speeches of the _huurrrehhhhhra_, and others had a pattern to them, a sort of rhythm, and R-r-rhruuh wondered if it was that music stuff that City-Dwellers supposedly experimented with.

The _huurrrehhhhhra_ she had named Hrrr-eh-r-r-rrrr attempted to mimic some of her language, but it was a lost cause and they had both figured that out.Its throat was too different, adapted only to its form of speech, while R-r-rhruuh could easily say words in both languages.Her learning of what its mannerisms and postures meant seemed to translate apology from Hrrr-eh-r-r-rrrr after that.

The tests and the semi-monotony of capture continued for many days.R-r-rhruuh's shape changed a little, and the clan noticed that she was left out of the more strenuous tests.Perhaps the captors were not _quite_ so barbaric as previously thought, but they were still going to be in extreme danger if the clan ever came face to face with them without walls.

R-r-rhruuh settled by the _huurrrehhhhhra_'s window, carving.She was experimenting, playing with the description of the Vrererererer(crack)grurrrr(click), the "dragons" that had banished hunters from pursuing _huurrrehhhhhra_.The tale said that the creatures had said something about warriors not being allowed to hunt, but just for a visit was fine by them.No one had tried to go there merely for seeing what was there, and the few expeditions that had tried to hunt returned with every single warrior shaking in utter terror, not that they'd admit it.The Vrererererer(crack)grurrrr(click) were powerful and could hide anywhere; shape-changing, mind-magic, illusion, practical immortality, all such dishonorable powers answered them.They could be anywhere, even changing their heat patterns or their very shape; and those who tried to hunt Earth returned with horrible images implanted in their minds, of what the Vrererererer(crack)grurrrr(click) would do next time.Warriors went in for clean deaths, honorable deaths, not being tortured for what could last for _years_ with the Vrererererer(crack)­grurrrr­(click)'s powers.

The warrior who had been imprisoned by them for more than half a year had brought back detailed accounts of them, and the story had spread with all the details that made such stories interesting.R-r-rhrhuuh, as a storyteller, had a memory like a trap.Nothing escaped.So she knew the varied details of the physical description of the beings that had overwhelmed and outmaneuvered warriors, the wings, the tail, scales and talons, the description of shape of the face, and she was slowly carving them into a piece of false-tree.Hrrr-eh-r-r-rrrr was not at its window, but R-r-rhruuh had seen it go willingly with the captors several times and return unharmed.She did not tell her elders this; their reaction might not be good.

As she carved, the storyteller thought on the beast she shaped.From what she had heard, sifting between the lines and looking from strange angles at the detailed and extremely long story, it seemed to her that the Vrererererer(crack)grurrrr­(click), the dragons, had their own way of honor.They considered the _huurrrehhhhhra_ their responsibility, to keep relatively out of trouble until they were doing pretty well on their own.A bit like parents; and as such it was their right to worry over and destroy dangers, to protect from threats.

As she shaped the carving's tail, R-r-rhruuuh saw Hrrr-eh-r-r-rrrr being returned to her enclosure, with an escort of three captors.The _huurrrehhhhhra_ was calm with the captors, as it was calm with R-r-rhruuh.She watched, and relaxed her jaws in a grin as Hrrr-eh-r-r-rrrr settled in front of her and watched her carve.

Fiona had been with the Abductor scientists, speaking and discussing and even giving them another tale or two.The one scientist she'd been helping out had asked her advice once more.She'd been giving it assistance for its presentation to the High Librarian and Council of the Wise, on whether or not to start including gender pronouns in their language, arguments for the cause.Her status with them had risen, not so much for her wisdom, but for her cleverness.Fiona could almost always find an example of what she meant or wanted to say from the store of tales, movies, music, within her mind, and if that failed, she was pretty good at making them up herself.

She settled into her enclosure, the Abductors leaving.The red-haired fifteen-year-old watched Athena, who was already sitting across the window, and grinned as the Predator's face went into what she thought to be an expression of pleasure.

There was something in Athena's hands, that looked like a wood-carving, but it looked too unnatural for wood.But the shape of it caught Fiona's eye.It looked rather like a dragon, with much of the face and forequarters finished and the wings, back legs and tail rough but taking shape.

"Curious," said the girl wonderingly.Did the Predators know of human legends?Or had they encountered some beast that seemed to meet the basic description of Fiona's favorite mythical beast, favored more than even unicorns and griffins?She watched the grey-eyed Predator shape the object further with her claw-like nails.

Athena caught her watching, and leaned down so their faces were closer.She looked at Fiona, and then at the carving, and clearly stated something in her subtle language of varying growls and gurgles, and the occasional click of a mandible.

Fiona touched the glassy separation and spoke the word she knew for the small, carved beast.

"Dragon."

R-r-rhruuh heard the word Hrrr-eh-r-r-rrrr used for the beast she was carving.She analyzed the sound in her mind, the way a hunter's helm helped analyze sounds, and tried to mimic it back.Hrrr-eh-r-r-rrrr shook its head and repeated it slowly, sounding it out, and R-r-rhruuh got it right the second time.So the _huurrrehhhhhra_ knew of the Vrererererer(crack)­grurrrr(click)?R-r-rhruuh furrowed her brow a bit, and then relaxed her face.She didn't want Hrrr-eh-r-r-rrrr thinking she was annoyed with it.But she was curious.As of thirty years ago, when warriors had first discovered the strange Vrererererer(crack)grurrrr(click), the creatures had said that humans had little knowledge of them and certainly didn't think they were real.Had things changed since then?Or was the knowledge of them simply legends?

"Questions.I have so many questions for you, Athena," said Fiona."I can't wait until the scientists are done with your physical tests and I can mind-speak to you."

"Questions, Hrrr-eh-r-r-rrrr; I have such things that I want to ask.Maybe someday I will be able to," spoke R-r-rhruuh.She had never been even out of the swamps of her home; she had not even traveled her own world, much less others.She wanted to learn if the views held by warriors were true.


	7. Part the Seventh

Part the Seventh

Part the Seventh

The tests had gone on for many, many days.The storyteller's shape was obviously different by that time, and everyone had a feeling that the pattern of relatively harmless tests wouldn't last un-changed much longer.A feeling was there, along the spine, in old bones and across the scars where the webbing of their hands had once been, that something was about to change.

And change it did.

The accustomed invisible cages did not form around them two days after the last test.The clan waited for the inevitable capture and trial, but it never came.This had them all nervous; it was bad enough they were prisoners, fed like pets or beasts for slaughter, but a change in the pattern could mean anything.A half day passed.No test, no contact, nothing.Krreehhhh,Vurrr-eh-hir-r, and Grrre-e-ehre had no idea what was going on, so they could not reassure the nine younger members of their clan from the wisdom of elders.The young twins tried to be brave, to not show fear, but they stayed close to one another.The ordeal had been most trying on them, sheltered as they were for the young of warriors.

Arrrahur-r-r and R-r-r-rahhh had forgotten their constant fighting in the tension; Ehrrrar-r-(click)rr was more silent than ever, pondering quietly behind his fanged face.R-r-rhruuh the storyteller was quiet as well, staying in her own territory for a while to think.

_Why do they change the pattern?Have they run out of things they want to know?_R-r-rhruuh was in the higher branches of her favored false-tree, in the shallow indentation at the joint mimicking the real trees of her home.The swamp trees benefited from being easy nesting grounds for beasts, for their seeds were knocked aside and spread through the travel along its branches.

_No, the captors can't possibly be done with their tests.So what are they up to now?_

R-r-rhruuh settled into the indentation of the base of the branch, bottom jaw on fist as she wondered.She finally came to the conclusion that she had utterly no idea why the pattern of the tests had changed, and that what would happen next was anybody's guess.She could find no way to figure out what might happen next, and was too tense to doze.The storyteller gracefully climbed down; her shape had not changed so that she could not move easily; and went to see Hrrr-eh-r-r-rrrr.

The _huurrrehhhhhra_ had its face arranged in its equivalent of a grin and raised its hand palm facing her in what she recognized as a greeting.R-r-rhruuh returned Hrrr-eh-r-r-rrrr's strange greeting and, as had become their habit, settled across the window from each other.

Sometimes they would try to communicate with each other, sometimes carry on one-sided conversations, occasionally both speaking at the same time.This day, Hrrr-eh-r-r-rrrr seemed excited.R-r-rhruuh couldn't help but smile; the little _huurrrehhhhhra_'s gaiety was infectious.It really was fascinating to have an example nearby of some of the wonders outside home she'd never seen, and Hrrr-eh-r-r-rrrr seemed to try and be friendly.So she returned it, and it relieved the tension from being imprisoned here by the diminutive and curious captors.It was pleasant, having a friend aside from clan siblings.

Hrrr-eh-r-r-rrrr stood and R-r-rhruuh noticed the captors coming down the hall.They appeared to be stopping at her window, so she simply sighed and stood.For her, the invisible cages had become more annoyance than insult; she had always been a bit odd, but then most storytellers were.A bit farther back in the enclosure, Hruuuhreeh(click) noticed what was going on and gave the call that warned of imminent capture, so anyone wrestling could disentangle themselves before the invisible cages forcibly separated them.They weren't giving in, their pride hadn't deteriorated that far, but it was stupid to waste strength on an already established barrier.Better to save it for when and if they found weak points.

The scientists were selecting the specimen to be communicated with first; at this point it would be between the specimen and a scientist who would "listen" very carefully for surface thoughts, see how well the species projected consciously or unconsciously.Specimen 52338 would be allowed to watch, the rules had finally been bent a bit.Judging from the data gathered, it was a short matter of time before her species was finally accepted and recorded as equal, and 52338 herself was a very good example and individually could be considered equal to the scientists; so she was allowed as a guest.

They selected the one who appeared to lead the group, retrieving his force field enclosure from the simulated environment, sealing the entrance and deactivating the enclosures of the others.The scarred old male, 52352, had arms crossed over chest and a defiant snarl on his face.52338 walked calmly beside the escort of scientists; if she noticed the glare of 52352, she didn't react.

Fiona walked beside the Abductor scientists and ignored the baleful gaze of Leader burning into her back.The scientists were accepting her more and more, and that made her quite happy enough to put up with grouchy Predators looking menacingly at her from across an impenetrable barrier.

They roamed the halls of the ship, finally coming to an area familiar to Fiona but certainly foreign to Leader or any others of the group.Fiona settled with the scientists in the observation area while Leader was forced to sit in the chair for the second participant in the telepathic communications by the weight of the Abductors at each limb.Until it was known that a specimen would behave well, not attempting to kill the scientists, they were bound by miniature force-fields at the wrists and chest.

Fiona compressed her mouth.It was necessary to ensure the safety of all concerned.Real life could not be as pleasant or fair as it was in her imagined worlds; if they did not bind him he would try and hurt them.She wrestled that thought into silence as the scientist, she couldn't tell them apart visually, pressed the miniscule round objects to Leader's forehead and deftly avoided a nip.The scientist chosen to "listen" for surface thought settled into its own position, across a clear barrier that separated participants from harming each other and each other's proper breathing environment.

The scientist gave a signal, and switches were switched.Soon, however, they could see that all was not well.The scientist had fainted, was paralyzed and looked rather board-like.Leader snarled, struggling against his bonds.

Fiona watched as another Abductor retrieved the unconscious scientist, and a realization struck her mind.When she had first been abducted, and put into forced telepathic communication with a scientist, she had blasted the other's mind into unconsciousness with the force of her anger at being taken and having no explanation.She nudged the shoulder of one of the observers tending the equipment, getting its attention, and tried to communicate with it her intent.

It shook its head and gave her a note-board; some of them could read and write human languages, even if it was impossible to pronounce.

_Let me try._

The scientist who had given her the board widened its dark eyes at her.

_I have a strong will; I knocked out one of you when I was in there.I could try._

The scientist bowed its head in defeat and squeaked to the others.Fiona was herded into the side of the communications room now vacant, and she settled into the chair, allowing the small sure hands of the Abductors to apply the units that would transmit and receive thought from a sort of middle ground between the two communicators.

Leader was struggling harder, and Fiona closed her eyes and as the switches were switched again breathed deep and _hoped-_

Waves of RAGE/FEAR battered at her, pounding her mind flat!But the fifteen-year-old girl had a strong will of her own, and retreating deep into the recesses of her head, considered a moment.

_The Danse Macabre, no, too gentle, Scotland The Brave, too in tune-ah, forget it!_ and she snarled and went with a wailing banshee shriek within her skull, at perhaps a hundred times the volume she could have achieved with her own throat.The mind-blast battered Leader's mind right back, the noise like a hawk the size of a plane.

The pair of them, elder male Predator and adolescent female human, clutched at the arms of their chairs, hyperventilating.Fiona tried to feel out with her mind.She found Leader to be subdued, his mind forced blank of surface thought.

_Calm.Be calm.Nothing to fear here,_ she projected as gently as she could.

A mental start, like jumping when surprised, and Leader watched her physically and within his mind tried to see the invader.Unbidden, his thoughts came across to her.

_What the-?_

She stayed silent, thinking he definitely needed a minute to get used to having another mind within range of his own.Fiona breathed, keeping her own thoughts in order, letting the Predator get used to the feel of her presence.The telepathic communications equipment was designed to transmit mostly conscious thought, not emotions.It took a bit of doing to send pure feelings rather than words and pictures, but enough was transmitted to get the right inflection and meaning.

The girl told herself to be brave.There was a wall between them; he could not harm her unless he somehow managed to blast her mind out of existence, which was unlikely.She had learned a bit from the Abductors, and it took a mind far more powerful than the one being assaulted to actually harm or destroy; little things like communication or, in extreme circumstances, slightly altering a memory or making one forget something for a while, was most of what a telepath natural or by means of mechanical aid could do with a mind its equal.

Fiona waited another minute.If Leader was thinking, he was doing it softly enough that she couldn't make it out.She decided to initiate contact, as she had with Athena.

_Hello._

A slight jerk, like an in-drawn breath of startlement.Leader obviously was not used to mental contact, or he wouldn't react like this to every projection.Well, he'd get used to it.

_What- _he was thinking- _what is that?Who speaks, how?_

_Me.I'm right in front of you.The short creature staring right at you._

_What the-_

She looked up at him, meeting the brilliant orange eyes of the shaken Predator.His eyes seemed to widen.

_The _huurrrehhhhhra_ from the next cage-_

_Oh, is that your word for my species?_

__He seemed to retreat into his head, but she could still "hear" him.Leader was definitely new to telepathy.

_I am _not_ talking to a _huurrrehhhhhra_!This is madness!Wait a minute- Oh, dear Burning Goddess, it's _mindspeaking _to me!_

He said it as if mindspeech were a bad thing.How interesting, thought Fiona.Did they fear mind-talents, or consider it an unfair advantage?She'd have to ask, once he was calm and less mentally panicky.When he was used to her, because it had to be startling, talking to a tiny alien that must be considered prey, if the movies were anything close to accurate.

Krreehhhh, clan-leader, elder, warrior, and for the brief time before the clan could no longer afford to go on expeditions, hunter, was frightened.It was against all honor to use mind-magic; there had never been a recorded instance of a hunter doing so, but sometimes prey-species turned out to have surprises.It was considered one of the worst things, to interfere with someone else's thoughts, particularly a hunter's.That was why the Vrererererer(crack)grurrrr(click) were so feared; some of them had that ability, while others were so sensitive to energy they might as well have been, and the self-proclaimed territory-rulers of Earth had no qualms about tearing apart a warrior's mind, altering it or playing with the emotions until they feared to ever come back anywhere near the _huurrrehhhhhra_'s planet.

The captors had apparently tried to listen or speak, and the one across from him had gone stiff, totally unresponding to its fellows.Then that _huurrrehhhhhra_, the creature his clan-daughter had been watching and which had been standing with the captors, had settled into the opposite place and somehow transmitted its thoughts to him.Well, he wouldn't stand for it!

_I didn't do anything to you, why are you snarling at me?!_

The _huurrrehhhhhra_ thought at him again.Krreehhhh jerked as if struck.

_Why do you flinch?_

It seemed almost as if it was just speaking to him, except he _knew_ it was between minds.Krreehhhh was disturbed, to say the least.

_Well, it is just like speaking to each other. I can't dig in the thoughts behind the words, and you can't do that to me either.Just what we project.And stop calling me an it!I am a female._

Krreehhhh thought- he might have imagined it, but he _thought_- that he heard a "softer" sentence, as if the _huurrrehhhhhra_ were speaking under its breath.

_I cannot believe I just corrected a Predator.Where did I get the gall to do _that?!

Krreehhhh clicked his jaws in agitation.Obviously they were mindspeaking, he and a _huurrrehhhhhra_, in the name of the Goddess!And he had no choice in it; the little creature seemed able to hear what he consciously thought and answered him back whether he liked it or not.Well, they must both be able to do so; they were equal in it.So perhaps the little creature didn't have such a dishonest advantage over him.But was this its idea in the first place?

_No!Well, I did ask to have a chance to speak with you when the Abductors-_ an image of the captors, colored in a spectrum he had never experienced- _were done listening to you.I want to ask you several questions._

He started, then calmed himself.It was just like speaking with a fellow warrior; except for the fact that it was by means of a power considered the lowest form of dishonesty and the partner-in-conversation was a prey animal.Show no fear.The Cold God devours those who fall prey to fear.

_Who are you?,_ he projected experimentally.

_My name is Fiona Markovski, a human.I know your kind as "Predator", and had assumed you were only a tale.To myself, I named you Leader.May I know your real name?_

A long answer for so small a question, and a question returned.Krreehhhh breathed deeply.It was just a conversation.With an animal.

_I am Krreehhhh, son of Arrrrhreerrr daughter of (Click)gur-r-rhhrrehrrr.I lead Clan Hur-r-r-r-(Click)ehhhr-Krur-r-r-r._

_And you've been in the enclosure next to mine for a while.I'm curious about you.I know very little about your kind, and I want to know more.Will you answer my questions?_

__Krreehhhh was startled.This _huurrrehhhhhra_ was speaking- well, communicating- with him, politely as if they were fellow warriors greeting each other.It was confusing.

_You're uncomfortable with mind-speech._

Krreehhhh heard the statement.Perceptive thing.

_Yes._

_Why?_

_It's a dishonorable advantage, to be able to mess with another's thoughts!It's cheating!_

_Hang on,_ came an annoyed sounding thought._We can't mess with each other's thoughts, I believe I said that before.Neither of us can dig deep into the other's mind or memories, we can't alter the other's mind, and even if we could, why would I want to?That's the first thing a person's got a right to, his/her/its own thoughts!And besides, we can both speak to each other.Neither of us has an advantage over the other.So why worry so?_

__Krreehhhh tried to take in the long discourse.

_You talk much._

_Yes.I do tend to go on and on.Sorry.If it makes you feel better, about the mind-speech, we can't do it outside of this machine.It'd about as much like cheating as having a translator._

_Mind-magic in general is cheating._

_Oh really?I always thought of it as just another tool, that if one possesses it one can decide whether or not to use as the occasion calls for it.I know a couple of neat stories with that sort of dilemma in them.And not many creatures that _I _know of can do it.In fact, I've only heard of it in fiction, stories._

_I'm talking to a _huurrrehhhhhra_.Not only that, I'm _mindspeaking_ to a _huurrrehhhhhra_.This is madness.It's been madness since the beginning!_

_(Cackles)That's life!Even _normal_ life has a great deal of craziness, Krreehhhh son of __Arrrrhreerrr daughter of (Click)gur-r-rhhrrehrrr.By the way, what does that word mean?_Huurrrehhhhhra_?_

Krreehhhh was so confused he just answered.

_It means you.Human.Prey._

The _huurrrehhhhhra_, it called itself "Fiona", was silent a moment.

_I call your kind Predator.I had always assumed you to be a mere tale, but then, I assumed the same about the Abductors._

_Abductors?_

_The tiny creatures that captured us both._

__An intense anger spiraled through Krreehhhh at the mention of the captors.

_Ow!Stop that!_

__He jerked, startled._Stop what?_

_That boiling aggression!It blazing hurts!_He could see the _huurrrehhhhhra_ breathing hard._And there isn't a need for that!They're just curious, that's all!_

_Curious?Curious?!They captured my clan, imprisoned and humiliated us!They push us through tests we have no idea if they're intended to be harmful or not, they keep us caged and fed like pets!!!_

_They don't mean any true harm.They're just curious, and frankly, humans have been putting up with this for over seventy years.Surely you can handle a bit of observation.Besides, I think they're working on their methods.The Abductors are learning that it is less risky and more rewarding to get a volunteer._

__Krreehhhh shook his head.This little creature talked a lot.

_You've been waiting a while to say that, haven't you?About the way being captured strips your pride?_

__Krreehhhh looked at it, eyes wide in surprise, confusion, wonder at the audacity of the little beast.

_(Cackles.)I'm sorry; it's just that you look so much like my big brother when I've outmaneuvered him._He raised a brow ridge. 

_So, being captured like this is considered humiliation among your kind?_

_Go away.I am not talking about pride and honor with a _huurrrehhhhhra_._

_And why is that?_ said the creature in a dangerously polite tone.

Krreehhhh stopped and looked at the little creature.He didn't actively dislike _huurrrehhhhhra_ like Grrre-e-ehre, but he had been a warrior and hunter.He had seen _huurrrehhhhhra_ and heard tales from other hunters.

_You know nothing of them._Huurrrehhhhhra_ are not warriors; they have no notions of honor._

_By warrior, do you mean a fighter or is it just a name for your people?_ it- she- said, still in that dangerously polite manner.

_My kind are warriors._

_I see.Tell me, Krreehhh son of Arrrrhreerrr daughter of (Click)gur-r-rhhrrehrrr.What happens among warriors when one insults another?_

_A challenge, what do you think?_

_Who sets the contest?_

_The one insulted._

_I challenge you._


	8. Part the Eighth

Part the Eighth

Part the Eighth

Krreehhhh blinked.

_What?_

__The _huurrrehhhhhra_ had its eyes narrowed, its mouth in a slight snarl.

_I challenge you.You insulted me, and you did it rather badly.You assume that just because I'm a human, not one of your kind, I have no honor.Maybe we have different ideas on what that is, but you shouldn't have assumed that I know nothing of it._

Krreehhhh widened his eyes.The little creature was audacious, bold.And very stupid.

_I heard that.I name the contest, Krreehhh son of __Arrrrhreerrr daughter of (Click)gur-r-rhhrrehrrr.I will not be insulted in this manner.You assume that just because I'm not a thrice-cursed _Predator_, I've got no principles._

_You are a _huurrrehhhhhra_.I do not accept challenges from those who are not warriors._

_And what is a warrior to you, but a person?If we were on my planet, my kin and friends would back me up on this.Unless it's something trivial neither I nor my kind tolerate insults.And this isn't trivial.We don't always physically fight over an insult, but there are contests we engage in to see who's right._

__Krreehhhh blinked again and snarled.

_And what in the frozen hells of the Cold God's realm is a _Predator?

The _huurrrehhhhhra_ drew itself up in its chair and exhaled sharply.

_You.And don't try to change the subject; I'll show you the tale the name came from after we're done._

_How will you tell me a tale when you're dead, prey-creature?As if I would accept your challenge._

_Who said anything about a physical challenge?Oh no, Krreehhhh.I set the contest, and I say that not only can we not get to each other, but a fight would be blatantly unfair, don't you think?No, I propose something different.We each choose one of our native beasts and mind-fight them.I'll help you figure out how to do it, but I want satisfaction from you.___

Fiona forced herself to appear brave.The abduction and introduction to the Predators had made her realize how close humans were to discovering they were not the dominant force in the universe.As one of the more original representatives-- representative, not prey--she felt she should probably try and make a case for their equality, and it would start by not backing down from this arrogant Predator.He could not call her less than a person and get away with it.

After the longest stunned silence from Krreehhhh, Fiona mind-spoke again.

_Will you accept my challenge?_

Krreehhhh considered.The _huurrrehhhhhra_ insisted on its having its own form of honor, and that in denying such a fact he had insulted it.This went against training as a hunter and the general attitude of all of his kind, City-Dweller coward or fen-born warrior.However, it seemed bound and determined to get him to answer its challenge, and he was curious about this little beast.

_Stop calling me _it_.I told you that before._

_?!!!_

_You think really loudly.You've got a powerful mind, a strong mind.So stop thinking of me as an it and a beast, I can hear you quite clearly and I strenuously object to such terms.Besides, insults like that are petty and infantile.You call yourself a warrior; I would think such behavior would be beneath you._

_!!!!!_

Krreehhhh was wordless with surprise.It called him less than a warrior, something that could get a fellow warrior killed.

_NO.Do not mistake my words.I never said that you are less than a warrior; I said that I think such behavior is beneath one.Feel free to accept my challenge and prove me wrong._

_Done!_

The _huurrrehhhhhra_ grinned.

The scientists looked at each other and one went to get some pjsdlnkas;lsdjf, the equivalent of human popcorn.They might be scientists, but they could enjoy the spectacles their work treated them to, couldn't they?

Fiona looked steadily at the seething Predator leader.That was something else to ask him after the fight was over; was the group that shared the enclosure with him this clan he said he led?But now she had to teach him how to mind-fight, and duel him.

_Okay then.The contest I choose is that you choose one of your native beasts, or even your own shape if you like, and I choose one of my native beasts.We think the moves they make against each other.Can you do this?_

__Krreehhhh was staring at her.This little creature challenges him, then tries to make sure he is able to compete?

_Of course, silly.Why would I want to challenge someone who doesn't know how to play the game?_

_Game._

_It's a figure of speech, I'm sure you have your own.Now, I'm going to set up the field.We haven't done much image-projection so far.It takes more will than just words, that's sort of unconscious.You have to actually imagine what you want to see._

Fiona put a big, sandy ring in the middle of the shared area of thought, at least a hundred feet across, surrounded by a grassy plain.Krreehhhh observed silently, but spoke up when she had finished.

_This is how you see things?_

_Yup.I see the light that bounces off things, not heat._

_How do you kn-_

_The tales I told you about earlier.We'll get to that.First, to business._

Fiona thought an image of herself into the center of the ring of sand.Krreehhhh gave a mental start.

_You try.Show me an image of yourself in this place._

The Predator thought.

_You're trying too hard.Just imagine, don't try to actually force anything into existence._

Krreehhhh breathed, and tried again.Thinking had always been something he'd just done, not, well, thought about.He imagined an image of himself as best he could.He had never actually seen himself.

_Good.Would you like to see how I see you?_

_I thought we were dueling._

_We will get to that, but first you have to know how to compete in this little world.Would you like to see?_

__Krreehhhh exhaled._Fine._He watched as the image of himself blurred, and changed from the heat-based image he knew, to something distinctly different.

_This is what I look like to you?!_

The _huurrrehhhhhra_ nodded.

_By the Goddess's spear, that is strange!_

_Well, to me seeing in heat would be really weird.Now, try to imagine your image moving._The _huurrrehhhhhra_'s image looked at the visible-light image of himself and grinned.Krreehhhh thought a moment, and his mind-image blinked and turned its head toward the _huurrrehhhhhra_.He thought again and his mind-self crouched, mandibles starting to flare in aggression.

Fiona watched.

_You're getting the hang of it!_She sounded impressed.Her mind-self raised her hand and brought it down as if casting an object hard at the ground.With a crack like lightning, the image changed, into a strange beast that reared on its hind legs and then came down on all fours, tossing its head.

Krreehhhh had never seen such a creature.It was perhaps to the middle of his chest at the shoulder, with a muscular body and quarters and long, relatively slender legs ending in single-toed hooves.The long neck led to a long face, the eyes at the sides to allow nearly a complete circle of vision.It was in the _huurrrehhhhhra_'s spectrum of vision, a deep red with dark eyes and a paler mane and tail than the coat.Krreehhhh couldn't help but admire the beast.If it had intelligence or a violent temper, it would have made interesting prey, even if it looked like an herbivore.

_This will be my shape, Krreehhhh.Now choose your own, and let us continue._

Krreehhhh thought for a moment.A quadruped had a distinct advantage over his own shape, even if he was a warrior; the strongest could easily fall under hooves and be spine-broken in seconds.To play this game, he must be equipped in kind.He chose a (click)_ur-r-r-r_(click), a sacrifice beast.He projected the image, and his newly shaped mind-self stood proudly.The creature's antlers were long and sharp, many hooked points waiting to be thrust into a foe's flesh, and its teeth had wicked sharp tips.The gills flared in aggression, the broad clawed feet spreading its weight out on the sand.

Fiona watched the Predator form his shape for the duel.It looked like a crossbreed of giant elk and piranha, with a bit of camel thrown in at the feet and face and a bull-like chest.She set herself to looking for weaknesses to exploit, points to go for.Heavy shoulders, to support that big neck and antlers, but the rump looked a bit under-muscled and weak.She thought of her own shape, an eighteen hand muscular mare with drafter-like leg bones, and shoved away the thought of smugness over the symmetry and equal strength of shoulder and rump.Back to her opponent.

Its teeth were sharp, the antlers looked like they should be illegal, and it looked vicious.The creature was about equal to her shape in shoulder-height.The eyes faced forward like a predatory animal's, she might be able to come up behind it- no, they'd both be seeing this from the outside.The leg-bones were a bit like her own, strong but still shaped to be breakable, and it didn't have hooves to make a kick solid, whereas she did.Sharp little claws at the ends of broad spongy camel-feet, but those could be evaded.

I can do this, she thought to herself.

_You named the contest,_ huurrrehhhhhra_.Speak the rules, as this is rather unconventional._The elder Predator sounded almost sarcastic.She chose to ignore his tone._ _

_Right.Imagine the moves you want your mind-self to make, try to get the other where it cannot get up and fight again.If a blow has enough force to break a bone, modify your mind-image so that it functions like the bone is broken.If a blow would wound, have it appear so and react so.This is not to the death, not for ourselves and not for the mind-images.If one yields, accept it.Start on go._

__Her mind-horse moved to the center of the sandy ring.Krreehhhh followed her example with his own beast.She backed up three paces, and he mimicked the movements.

_Go._

The antlered beast charged, and the mind-horse jumped delicately to the side, leaving the beast scrambling to turn after it.

Fiona purred to herself.The big beast might have the intelligence of the Predator Krreehhhh behind it, but the shape was too big to turn easily.She raced, and while the piranha stag still tried to follow her, the mare circled back and got in a quick and hard nip to its flank, ducking as the antlered head swung and nearly tore up her face.The body followed the head, and she cantered away to avoid those jaws, but the piranha stag got the mare's tail in his teeth.

They both seemed a bit surprised at this, but the mind-mare used the opportunity and got a sharp kick at the piranha-stag's head.She missed and got it in the throat, leaving a shallow cut.Krreehhhh's mind-self locked its legs and pulled on the mind-mare's tail, trying to get her within range of its clawed forefeet.Instead of resisting, she allowed herself to be pulled back a few inches and then planted her hooves in the piranha-stag's shoulder and knew something must have given.Receiving deep scratches to its rump, the mind-mare galloped to the other end of the ring.

Krreehhhh was unbelieving.The _huurrrehhhhhra_'s beast had given a kick that surely must have bruised if not broken the sacrifice beast's shoulder.Honor demanded honesty, so he made his mind-image limp badly on that leg.He snarled, and the mind-image did as well.The _huurrrehhhhhra_ would _not_ beat him so easily!

He waited for his opponent to come within range again, balancing his mind-image on its three undamaged legs.The mind-mare walked calmly toward him and stood at his side, rump close.The sacrifice beast turned its head, drawing back its antlers for a swing at the mare, but she ducked and kicked out at his rump, catching him in the hip joint and repeating the motion as he tried to get away.Fiona was mimicking film she'd seen of stallion fights, and continued to lash out with hooves and teeth at the Predator's mind-image.He managed to get in a few good bites and one long scratch along her back from the antlers, but Krreehhhh was obviously not used to imagining a fight.Fiona, who spent a great amount of time in her head, had a distinct advantage and was not shy about using it.

Neither mind-animal felt pain or exhaustion, the only thing that could end the fight would be if one made a move that both knew would incapacitate the other; or if one or both were so sick of it they yielded to get the match over with.The latter was unlikely; both opponents were stubborn and both were having their more basic ideals challenged.

She started getting the piranha-stag's head to follow her and try to bite, and she let him get in a few nips to convince him it was worth pursuing, and started to lead him back and forth very fast in a circle.Finally his teeth and neck followed her out to the front and as he leaped forward on three legs she kicked the other foreleg out from under him.

The piranha stag crashed to the ground, and the mind-mare jumped away, waiting to see what the results had been.Krreehhhh snarled in his place across from her in the physical world.His mind-image couldn't fight on a bruised or broken left shoulder and a surely broken right foreleg.That creature the _huurrrehhhhhra_ had chosen had powerful legs and used them to advantage; the force and angle applied had no other possible result than that his mental sacrifice beast had two useless forelimbs.

Fiona held her breath, hardly daring believe what had happened.The piranha stag couldn't fight anymore.She had won.Against one of her favored sci-fi monsters who supposedly engaged in combat most of the time.It was impossible.

No, she thought to herself, it wasn't impossible.This hadn't been a physical fight; it had been mind against mind, and she was one used to experimenting in her mind.If Krreehhhh's reaction to mind-speech was any indicator, Predators did not engage in mental fights, because it wasn't possible and/or if it was possible, mental powers were highly disliked.

She had the mind-mare move closer to the fallen piranha-stag.Krreehhhh could have easily modified his mind-image to be able to fight again, but he was obviously above that.She grinned in deeper thought, where it wouldn't be transmitted to the elder Predator, liking his honesty.

_Yield?_

With something of a mental sigh, Krreehhhh looked at the _huurrrehhhhhra_.

_I yield._

_Oh, good._The mental images were banished, as if they never were.

_Will you speak with me now?_

_I might as well.I am disgraced anyhow._

_Just for being beaten in a form of competition you've no experience at, over a rude comment?_

Krreehhhh started.

_I thought this was something important to you._

_Oh, yes._Never_ think otherwise._But I think you've learned not to insult me and my species in such a manner.If you'd been trying to hurt me or something, that _I wouldn't tolerate so easily.I don't bow down to bullies._

_The disgrace has nothing to do with you._

_Okay, then.I think I'm going to leave that be for a while, sounds like a tender area.My first question- Am I going to have to fight every one of you before you speak to me?_

Krreehhhh just looked at this little _huurrrehhhhhra_ that seemed to try and overturn all reason and tradition, and shook his head.What was the universe coming to?

The scientists watched all this on their monitors and mental taps.They were giddy with anticipation, waiting with bated breath for the two aliens to continue their conversation.It was truly fascinating, watching the reaction of two such similar races, close in pride and arrogance, close in strength of will, and close in unadulterated stubbornness, as they encountered each other.

A lower status scientist, more of a glorified lab assistant, was sent to cancel appointments for its superiors; they didn't want to miss a thing.

_You are what I call a Predator, Krreehhhh.I thought that your species was only a story.I would like to show you the tales I know you from, and I would like you to tell me if they are anything close to accurate._

_You are bold._

_Yes.I don't know very much about your kind, and the quickest way for me to learn about you is if I present what information I have and you tell me if it's right._

_Fine.Get on with it._

Fiona displayed the beginning of Predator in her projection.She continued the tale; Krreehhhh was silent as he watched the images displayed before him.

The leader of the clan watched the tale the _huurrrehhhhhra_ said she knew him from, or his kind.It was weird, the way they recorded their tales in pictures and sounds; but fascinating.He was silent as he watched the _huurrrehhhhhra_ warriors find the corpses hung to keep them out of the hunter's way and from attracting attention.He'd never seen or even thought of a hunt from the prey's point of view, except to try and figure out a better angle for an attack.It was fascinating.Incredibly weird but fascinating.

When the one _huurrrehhhhhra_ had taken the many-legged thing off the other's shoulder and squished it, Krreehhhh had wondered what it was.He must have thought it consciously, he realized, when the _huurrrehhhhhra_ Fiona answered him quietly.

_It's a scorpion.Nasty.I don't know if that particular specimen was deadly poisonous, but some of them can kill an untreated human._

Krreehhhh looked at her, and turned his attention back to the tale she was telling.Showing.Whatever.

He wondered at the yellow flashes where the eyes of the hunter's mask were supposed to be.Perhaps it happened when the mask changed ranges or spectrums.It seemed to unnerve the _huurrrehhhhhra_ to see it, and as the story progressed to where the huge male who always chewed on something had his chest blasted, Krreehhhh noticed the one who seemed to be that one's friend seemed a bit unstable.The tale went on and he watched the _huurrrehhhhhra_ vow vengeance on the hunter while remembering his friend.

Huurrrehhhhhra_ really care so for their friends?_

_Many of us._

_Hmm._

But there was no time for further discussion as an exciting part had just come up.The tripwires were tripped and the giant pig came rampaging through the camp, and then the _huurrrehhhhhra_ warriors noticed the body of the big male was gone.

_Do you actually do that?Take risks to get the prize?_

_Absolutely.You need the prize to show the kill.What was that beast?_

_A wild pig, now _those_ would be an interesting hunt if one were interested in being mauled._

_Oh?_

_This is a boar-spear.That cross-piece there?_

_Yes?_

_That's to keep the thing from running up the spear and getting at you with its tusks.Back to the story._

_Drat._

Things started to go faster from that point._Huurrrehhhhhra_ were slaughtered left and right; soon the small female had run to whatever transportation this "chopper" was and the only one left was the big leader male.Krreehhhh was rapt as the _huurrrehhhhhra_ fled the hunter through the water and finally the mud at the edge of the river.He saw from the hunter's point of view that there was nothing the heat of a living beast there, and then the blasting of the small spot of red warmth.From the _huurrrehhhhhra_'s view again, he saw the escaping little creature and the display of temper as the hunter kicked at the log.

"He couldn't see me," realized the _huurrrehhhhhra_ as he touched the mud smeared over him.Then the human warrior started preparing to find the hunter.

He watched the preparations for the prey to hunt the hunter, the making of the varied traps, the spears, and that odd curved thing of wood and string.

_It's a bow.It helps throw small, slender projectiles called arrows point first at whatever you want injured.Watch._

And he watched as the _huurrrehhhhhra_ warrior tested his "bow", managing to get a stick to punch through a distant tree.

_Impressive._

_Indeed.It's simply amazing the different ways we can come up with to harm one another._Krreehhhh thought he detected a note of sarcasm.

He was caught up in the drumming that pulsed louder until the big _huurrrehhhhhra_ roared his challenge and cast the torch to the wood below.A distraction, he realized; the heat would attract attention and confuse vision.Clever!

_What was the drumming?_

_We use music to enhance the feeling a scene gives off.A sudden shock would probably get a sudden silence; grieving would have some sort of wailing note; that sort of thing._

The quick question was silenced as they together watched the hunter look up at the sudden echoing bellow, click curiously to himself, and return to running the red lights over his blades.

_What is that?I always thought it might be the metal was so tough it needed a laser to sharpen._

_!!!_

_I'll take that as I guessed correctly._

_Indeed,_ thought Krreehhhh faintly.By the Burning Goddess's spear, they're cleverer than we give them credit for, he thought.

They watched the chase in silence, the roles of hunter and hunted becoming mixed.Finally, both viewers held their breath as the hunter's wrist blades came down on either side of Dutch's neck.The huge hunter retracted his blades and grasped the _huurrrehhhhhra_ around the throat as he slammed him into a tree, coming close so he could examine the prey's skull and determine the best way to end the challenge.

The hunter backed away and handicapped himself for the hunt's end, taking off his shoulder cannon and finally, removing his mask and revealing his face.At the _huurrrehhhhhra_'s response, a question rose in Krreehhhh's mind as the hunter bellowed.

_I take it that was an insult._

_Oh, yeah.It implies incest, and this is one of the points in the story I take sides with the Predator.But many of us tend to be fairly casual about obscene insults; I'm just not one of them._

The pair of them watched the hunter drive the human with his fists, until he lay under the branch with the knives stuck in it.The Predator was about to go in under it when he felt the spikes the human might have kicked him against, and raised a brow ridge as if to say, "You really thought you'd get rid of me that easily?"

Krreehhhh knew something big was about to happen, and as it was a tale from the human's point of view he didn't think it was going to be a successful kill and a glorious return to the home world to breed.

And he was right.They both winced as the deadfall trap was triggered and the hunter looked up as the huge log section directly above him succumbed to gravity.

Krreehhhh watched as the human realized the hunter was still alive and stumbled upright with a rock, preparing to end it; and stopped, watching the almost pitiful sight as the dying creature coughed up blood so forcefully it dripped into the deep eye sockets.

The human cast aside the rock.

"What the hell are you?"

The hunter asked the same.What creature, what _huurrrehhhhhra_ was this that had defeated a hunter?

The mutual question went unanswered as the proud warrior prepared to end his life on his own terms and take all traces with him.The movie ended, and Fiona cut off the credits after the cast list.

Krreehhhh looked at the small _huurrrehhhhhra_.They knew a bit about hunters, all right.But she said they had all assumed them a tale.How was that possible?

_Is it accurate?Was the hunter played properly?_The _huurrrehhhhhra_ demanded its answer.

_The information at the side of the screen from the helmet analysis was gibberish._

_But is the other information correct?_ she pressed.

Krreehhhh breathed.If they knew so much already, they might as well know it was relatively correct.

_Yes._

The _huurrrehhhhhra_ considered.

_There is another story.It seems to give more information on your kind than the first._

_You offer tales, many tales.Are you a storyteller among your kind?_

_I suppose you could call me an apprentice storyteller.I write my own tales.Actually, on my own world I'd be in trouble if I tried to pass off the tales I've given you as my own.But I do have my own._

_But a storyteller gains status with each story she knows!The greatest have traveled and gathered tales from many to add to their own stores!_

_It probably makes no sense to you.But we're very territorial.As long as I make no profit from them, tell who came up with them, I'm fine.Status as a storyteller is from how good your own creations are, among us._

_You _huurrrehhhhhra_ make no sense._

_Flattery gets you nowhere, but thanks._

_No sense at all._

_Yes, I get the idea.Do you want to see the second tale?_

_Yes.How do you know so much about us?! _

_I keep telling you, I always assumed you were a fascinating creature of fiction, created by good writers and an excellent effects artist.Speaking of which, I may have to revise my opinion of Stan Winston, the man credited with creating the look of the Predator.You aren't his original work._

_I should think not!_ mentally snarled the elder Predator.

Fiona displayed Predator 2 in her head, as she had done with the first.Once again, there were little comments and conversations under the movie.She was very quick to assure Krreehhhh that it was not like that everywhere on Earth; but unfortunately there were spots and times like the disaster portrayed in Predator 2.

When the hunter got into the subway train, Krreehhhh gave a small growl.

_What?_

_That young hotheaded fool; you're supposed to try and avoid making yourself too obvious to intelligent prey.He'll get glorious trophies but he's risking our ability to hunt there.Like that young idiot who got us banished from hunting you._

The tale stopped dead.

_WHAT?!!!!_

Krreehhhh winced at the volume of the human's mind; and then got the feeling he'd given away something very important.

_We're forbidden prey?_The _huurrrehhhhhra_ was disbelieving, and even with his limited knowledge of human expressions, the clan leader could recognize total and complete _surprise_ on the face of the human who called herself Fiona.

_You have guardians that about thirty of our years, and I think- sixty, maybe- of yours ago, banished us from your world.We cannot hunt you.The __Vrererererer(crack)grurrrr(click) are sneaky and they call upon incredible and dishonorable powers._

_The _Vrererererer(crack)grurrrr(click)_?_

_I think the name _huurrrehhhhhra_ have for them is _"dragons."__

_Dragons are real?_ mind-squeaked the human._Dragons are real?!_ in a slightly louder tone.

Krreehhhh was mind-blasted by the wave of excitement and joy and ecstasy radiating from the human storyteller.

_DRAGONS ARE REAL!_

Krreehhhh looked up through eyes slightly out of focus.

_That was not pleasant._

Fiona's face flamed brilliantly.

_Sorry.My favorite mythological animal, and I find out they're real.So, they guard us, do they?_

_I'm going to regret saying this, aren't I?_

_Well, I don't see how.You say they've already forbidden you from hunting humans; no one would believe me if I said anything; I say you're merely satisfying the curiosity of a youngling and that no harm will come of it._

_And how do I know no one would believe you?_

_You haven't noticed how hard it is to lie mind to mind?Anyway, you cannot hunt us, because of these dragons?When did this happen?_

_Sixty or so of your years ago.The Vrererererer(crack)­grurrrr­(click) didn't know of us until that idiot managed to get himself captured by one and they found out about our hunts.They claim Earth as their territory and that anyone hunting here will be tortured for years.They can do that.They are _powerful_.What frustrates hunters so is that they have prime prey swarming their world, and they don't even hunt it!_

_So the last attacks would have been in the seventies . . ._

_There were attempts after.All came home gibbering in terror from the mere threats the Vrererererer(crack)grurrrr­(click) made.You have powerful friends, _huurrrehhhhhra_.Be glad they like your kind._

_I believe we have gotten incredibly off subject.I apologize.I have that effect on people.Do you wish to discuss this now and have the second story wait, or the other way around?_

__Krreehhhh closed his eyes and prayed for strength.He then turned his thoughts and gaze back to the tradition-defying human and replied.

_Continue with the story.I might as well know exactly how much knowledge of warriors you have.Storyteller._

Fiona went back to the story, going back a minute or so to make sure they hadn't missed anything, wondering at the grudging tone of respect in the title.Again the Predator cut his way through the subway car.Krreehhhh watched, as the one called Jerry was dragged through the air after doing his very best to defeat the hunter.From the point of view of whoever had created this tale, he saw just a bit of what it must be like, facing a fully armed hunter, not as an equal, but as prey.It was disturbing.

The female was now coming back to the- subway car, the storyteller had called it.She looked for her friend, and backed away from the car when she did not see him.The hunter, trying to find one more worthwhile kill, uncloaked and held the human up by the throat.Krreehhhh watched the image-story switch to the warrior's sight again, and so knew just why he dropped her to the ground again.One _never_ killed a carrying mother, no matter how much of a challenge it might be.Such a thing would be anathema and only one drastically insane would attempt it.

On went the saga, and the elder was fascinated by the chase that ensued when the _huurrrehhhhhra_ that had led the pack in trying to find the killer saw the warrior tear his friend's head off and run.The chase continued out into the street and the cloaked hunter left deep indentations in the roofs of vehicles he used as stepping-stones.

The pair, storyteller and audience, watched the slaughterhouse slaughter._Who are the ones who block off their heat, try to capture the warrior?_

_Government._

_What?_

_Um, the ones in charge.It's complex, but essentially we choose leaders to try and do what's best for the group, and we often have conflicting ideas of what's best.This is one of them.The group gives power to the leaders so they can do what's necessary.Some argue too much or too little power; my own opinions on that vary.But there are some wonderful scandalous tales of my government trying to deal with aliens and keep it a secret.We could get into that later, if you like._

Krreehhhh shook his head in confusion again.Among warriors, one was part of a clan, led by a clan leader, and the dominant clans' wills held sway over their particular areas.H_uurrrehhhhhhra_ had many confusing ways; this would require explanation later.As well as seeming a source of many stories and information, the creature was definitely a storyteller, a _true_ storyteller; it- she- had the ability to intrigue, to rouse interest and desire for the information she had.It was utterly astonishing that a mere _huurrrehhhhhra_ could be the equal of a storyteller of his kind, have the talents of the craft.But in the meanwhile, the second saga of the humans' encounter with hunters was being held up.The old warrior returned his attention, and more questions were passed back and forth in the strange, instant and practically unconscious communication that connected them.

A glaring mistake caught his eye in the images that made up the tale as the battle between the _huurrrehhhhhra_ "policeman" or whatever it was and the warrior raged on.

_The shrine to the Burning Goddess.This tale reduces it to featureless pillars!_

_Oh?Tell me._

__Krreehhhh raised a brow ridge.Definitely a storyteller; always on the hunt for a new story, new details.But this inaccuracy was ludicrous!

_The shrine is not so plain as that.Nowhere _near_ so bare.It is supposed to have the glyphs on it, legends and laws and pictures of the tales, the Deeds of the Burning Goddess and the Cold God.What _possible_ purpose could there be in having useless plain pillars there?!_

_Something I pondered myself.Thank you._

Krreehhhh simply clamped down on an answer.It was disturbing._Huurrrehhhhhra_, humans, were prey.Prey was not supposed to discuss hunters with the hunter and thank him for the information.Utterly ridiculous; _madness_.

_And perhaps I am a bit mad,_ thought he, at the "pitch" that seemed to be below Fiona's "hearing" range.Who knew?Perhaps all the years deep in his diminishing territory surviving with only the remnants of his clan had turned his mind a bit.But sane or no, the clan leader reflected, there was a story going on, and its teller truly had the gift of hooking the watcher.

Once again, the human defeated the warrior.Krreehhhh watched the young hunter fall, his belly split with his own disk, and the brilliant green glow through what must surely be the mists that ships had to keep their occupants healthy.Human-sight was strange but interesting.Light bouncing off things, the storyteller had said.

The ending came, the hunt-leader giving one of her own prizes to the human who had defeated a warrior; completely this time, not just driving him to suicide to save his pride as the first one had.

After, the teller had more questions.

_Would they really have let him go?_

_If you've beaten a hunter fairly, you deserve to live.And it would be foolish not to release the prey to breed better challenges.He was careless enough to be beaten by his prey, let him become the prize for the _huurrrehhhhra_._

_Wait- him become the prize?Do you mean, the pistol the big Predator gave him?_

_There was obviously limited time, the hunter just made it back before the ship had to leave.When there is more time, I'm told the prey would be given some souvenir of the hunter it killed.There was no time, so the hunt leader gave him one of her prizes._

_Fascinating . . ._

__Huurrrehhhhhra,_ you give tales and ask questions._I have questions.

_Ask away.I still have other things I want to know, but they can wait._

_Why is the human-_

_Harrigan is his name._

_Why is he so persistent in finding the hunter?It is not his honor at stake to bring down prey._

_On the contrary, Krreehhhh, it is._

_?!!_

_While there is a vengeance factor for his friends, Harrigan is a policeman.He took an oath to protect law-followers and find/capture/punish those who break law-codes.And part of that oath is finding the Predator, who is quite deliberately breaking the law against unjustified murder._

_Hmmm._

_Now I have a question._

Krreehhhh watched Fiona steadily.Strange names, _huurrrehhhhhra_ had.The creature was brave, he had to give her that.She had just herself told two tales of warriors and how easily they could destroy a _huurrrehhhhhra_, was face to face with _him_, and simply went on in her methodical way gathering the information she wanted.

_Oh, I'm not all that brave.There's always a wall between us, haven't you noticed?And the Abductors are _very_ careful not to let specimens hurt each other; in fact, if the lot that has us weren't in such an archaic ship, they'd never have to risk getting close to you and your clan or the others.Frankly, the discovery of another intelligent species like you is something they hope will gain them distinction._

_?!Warriors do not admit cowardice._

_Now that's silly._

_!_

_How can you get rid of something if you don't admit it?!And I don't call it cowardice.Never mind, we're going to end up fighting.I believe I was about to ask a question._

_Fine._

_I am going to ignore your tone.NOW, about that one scene.Where the hunter goes up on the building and gets struck by lightning, why does he do that?And how is it that whenever he seems to get electrocuted, he isn't gravely injured?_

Distracted from their clashing philosophies, Krreehhhh realized that of _course_ no _huurrrehhhhhra_ would understand the touch of the Goddess's spear.They tended to end up dead.He answered with a touch of pride.

_He was especially favored by the Burning Goddess.She touched him with Her spear and showed him She approved of his hunt.The same power one can get from those ridiculous contraptions _huurrrehhhhhra _have all over your world; it helps keep the armor and weapons running.And after one is more powerful._

_Explain._

Krreehhhh stopped.How did one explain?_Should_ it be explained to a _huurrrehhhhhra_?

_But it isn't just a _huurrrehhhhhra_.She is a storyteller, a true one; there are laws about lying to one when it might influence the stories._Decided, he continued.

_When a warrior is favored by the Goddess, after the strike he is stronger, feels no pain for a time.No one sane would dare challenge at such a time, unless they had just been favored as well._

_Euphoria.So, you've developed a way to survive lightning strikes, and you're euphoric after.Tell me.What is your world like?Is there a lot of rain or lightning there?_

The conversation continued for a short time.After a brief description of Krreehhhh's home, with more practice at image-projection, Fiona remembered an earlier question.

_Krreehhhh, will the rest of your group be so stubborn about speaking with me?_

The question caught him by surprise.

_You will mind-speak with all of us?!_

_It's not my idea, the Abductors have to test all of you, and I don't think they will be any more successful than La;lsdkjfal;dal;lsdal;sdkoijjv was._

_Who?_

_The Abductor that first tried to "listen" to your mind.You saw them take it out, didn't you?You are very strong, and I seem to be the one here who can stand up to you.The scientists are too small, and this ship of theirs is pretty old for them.They aren't equipped to make the power even._

_Hmmmm._

_Oh, don't.They are just _curious!__And anyway, they will have me speak, because I'm the one who is powerful enough.

__Krreehhhh raised a brow and remained silent.__

_When will I return to my clan?_

Fiona realized with a jolt that it had been- _a really long time_, since the forced telepathic communications had started.

_Your group must be worried.And you said you were leader, so you must worry as well.Well, this can end at any time.And you don't need to worry.It might seem unpredictable or strange, what the Abductors do, but they do have good intentions.Besides, to damage a specimen is against one of their primary laws._She grinned.

_Just remember, Krreehhhh son of __Arrrrhreerrr daughter of (Click)gur-r-rhhrrehrrr.I can be an ally here, if you wish it._

Krreehhhh watched the human suspiciously, but carefully kept his thoughts "soft" enough that she did not hear.Why would a prey beast, one who knew she was prey, offer assistance?Granted, she did now know of the Vrererererer(crack)grurrrr­(click), the dragons, and their decree against the hunt on Earth.But still, why?

_Did you know that your jaws flare just a little when you're suspicious?_

_!!!!Don't do that!_

_I want to help because I know that it will not harm me or mine or my kind to do so, and because it's against my personal ideas of honor to leave you struggling here when I _can_ help.Besides, I like Athena._

_What- who is Athena?_

Fiona looked at Krreehhhh, and projected an image of the gray-eyed Predator who would watch her and try to communicate.

_Her._

_Her name, _huurrrehhhhhra_, is R-r-rhuuh._

_Neat.I can't pronounce it, and I didn't know any way of asking her name.I named a lot of you to tell you apart.If you want, I could go into detail about what and why, but didn't you want to check on your clan?_

_Yes,_ he hissed.

_Alright.When we've both had time to ourselves, the Abductors will try listening with another of you.Bye._

And Fiona looked to the observation/control room and signaled.She relaxed as her mind was detached from the middle ground where she and the Predator had mind-spoken.Krreehhhh looked a bit dazed, and she bit her lip between laughter and sympathy.It was a common enough side effect with one's first telepathic communications, but also, she had challenged him and practically overloaded him with stories and questions.Poor Predator, he was bound to be slightly dizzy.

The scientists removed the little pad-like things from her forehead, and she could tell by their pale gray color that they were utterly ecstatic.Fiona smiled.It was rewarding to see that.

As the caravan walked down the halls of the ship, the human and the hunter each had much to think of.The adolescent female digested the information she had learned about Predators, as well as the idea that her kind truly had been hunted for sport and that it had been stopped, fifteen years before her mother's birth, by mythical creatures.The elder male thought on the whirlwind of ideas and information and contradictions to basic ideas._Huurrrehhhhhra_ that challenged to duels over insults to honor; mind-magic, a cheating and dishonest power used to speak with what _should_ be called an animal; the idea that humans knew they were hunted, had not one but two tales about it, and _didn't even believe they were more than stories!_

They reached the enclosures, and Fiona watched as the individual force fields were activated to keep the other Predators from escaping or attacking as their leader was released into the false swamp.That done, the red-haired girl stepped into her own enclosure, and watched to see what would happen.

R-r-rhruuh and her family had been close together in an instinctive defensive circle since the captors had taken their clan leader.Hours went by, punctuated only by nervous growls and half hopeful, half dreading vigils at the window to the hall where Krreehhhh had been taken.

The human she had named Hrrr-eh-r-r-rrrr had willingly gone with the captors when the diminutive creatures had seized Krreehhhh.R-r-rhruuh realized that she really did not know anything about the _huurrrehhhhhra_ that spent so much of its time trying to communicate with her.Was it possible . . . 

"The captors are coming," whispered (Click)Greherrrr.The clan was on their feet in an instant, just in time to feel the invisible cages form and nearly break their teeth in the sudden halt.Arrrahur-r-r and R-r-r-rahhh were truly beginning to hate that.

Krreehhhh's invisible cage was set inside their enclosure, the window sealed, and they were released.The clan converged on their leader, who was shaking his head as if ridding himself of a pestering thought. 

"Brother," worriedly growled Grrre-e-ehre and Vurrr-eh-hir-r, as the younger generation were silent and simple stayed close, hoping to find out what was going on.What had happened?Why take only the leader?Why had the _huurrrehhhhhra_ gone with the captors?

Krreehhhh shook his head once more, seeming to rid himself of his confusion, and stood tall with his spine straight, and faced the window through which the human watched, directing his clan's attention there.

"What happened?" finally asked Vur-r-r-r.

In a tone that sounded as close to far away as the growling language could get, the head of the clan answered simply.

"I insulted her.She challenged me to a duel.And she won."


	9. Part the Ninth

Part the Ninth

     R-r-rhruuh and her elders and siblings simply flared their jaws in surprise and stared, waiting for an explanation.  The human she had named Hrrr-eh-r-r-rrrr stood and watched them, face expressing only curiosity and arms loosely crossed over chest.

     "You can't be serious."

     The silence was broken by Grrre-e-ehre, her words seeming to snap the others out of their shock in the stillness.  R-r-rhruuh moved closer, wanting to hear.  Her sister Hruuuhreeh­(click) was next to her and her brothers (Click)Greherrrr and Ehrrrar-r-(click)rr, and they exchanged looks.  Hruuuhreeh­(click) alone had shown a polite interest in R-r-rhruuh's fascination with the _huurrrehhhhhra_, but now, with this obvious inclusion of the little creature in what was going on, the subject had gained all their attention.

     Grrre-e-ehre stood before her clan brother and leader, and he looked, not quite at her, but in her direction, as if occupied.  

     "Brother, what happened?  Tell us."  Krreehhhh still seemed lost in thought.  Grrre-e-ehre was losing patience.  Even if whatever had happened had been traumatizing, the clan needed the information.  And as leader, Krreehhhh had to be strong.

     "Clan Leader," she snapped, in a tone usually reserved among hunter-kind for drilling younglings, delivering formal statements, and sentencing criminals.  "I ask you to _tell us what happened._"  

     That shook Krreehhhh out of his stunned thoughts.  He drew himself up proudly again.

     "Let us settle, and speak.  This is going to take a while."

     R-r-rhruuh listened with her siblings to every detail in fascination, committing it to memory.  The captors used a sort of mind magic, like stuff of ancient legends!  From what Krreehhhh could figure out, the tiny things that held them captive had tried to speak with him, but the only one strong enough was the human.  And the human had not acted like the frightened prey-beast it ought to have, but spoke to him just like a fellow warrior.  And not it, R-r-rhruuh thought to herself, she.  That had been one point, according to the elder, that she had been insistent on.

     The clan listened to Krreehhhh's narration spell bound, wondering at all the strange things that even to full grown, properly trained, well-traveled warriors would have been mind-boggling.  

     "She's a _storyteller?!"_  

     "_Huurrrehhhhhra_ have dealt with the captors for seventy years?!"

     "Or more.  And they have different years, remember.  Only about thirty five."

     "Still!  And _how_?"

     "I don't know."

     "She freely offered tales?"

     "Huurrrehhhhhra know hunters exist?"

     "They think of us as mere stories."

     "You jest."

     "I do not."

     "She _challenged_ you?  What for?"

     "I said as a _huurrrehhhhhra_ she had no honor; she did not agree, said I shouldn't assume.  She said it was childish- _'infantile'_, to _insult_ her like that.  Beneath a warrior."

     _"Infantile?!"_

     "Insult?"

     "Elder, what challenge did she propose?"

     Grrre-e-ehre, Vurrr-eh-hir-r, and each of the younger nine were aghast at the idea of a mind-fight.  Mind-magic was ultimate cheating!  But, the leader hadn't had much of a choice.  A challenge, once accepted, could not be refused, and the one insulted named the contest.  These were the indisputable and immovable laws of a duel over honor.  And even if it was breaking a promise only to an inferior animal, which the _huurrrehhhhhra_ seemed bent on proving it was not, such a dishonor as a refusal of accepted challenge was as much a sin as a broken oath, and the Burning Goddess and the Cold God _both_ frowned upon such things.  If a warrior had gotten himself stuck in a hard vow, it was his own bad luck and his problem. 

     R-r-rhruuh could scarcely believe her ears.  The little creature she called Hrrr-eh-r-r-rrrr was a storyteller like her.  And she had told the clan leader that she would speak- _mind-speak_- with all of them.  Curiosity burned through her; she snuck a glance sideways at Hrrr-eh-r-r-rrrr; the human was standing and watching them.  The ideas warred within her; desire to learn more of this, and the mistrust of mind-magic.  

     _But either way, this could be interesting . . . _

     Her youngling stirred, as if agreeing or reminding her to pay attention to what her leader was saying.  R-r-rhruuh snapped her eyes forward again, a palm pressed to her unborn youngling.  Krreehhhh now was giving the best description he could of the stories Hrrr-eh-r-r-rrrr, who apparently called herself "Fiona," had shown him.

     "They record images somehow, and move them- I can't even pretend to understand how it works.  But _huurrrehhhhhra_ use it to preserve their stories, or at least these two.  And the creature had them memorized."

     R-r-rhruuh listened very carefully, wanting to learn all she could of the human's stories.  There was a reason beyond curiosity in her interest, though her intense inquisitiveness was a great deal of it.  Among hunter-kind, for a storyteller there was as much status to be gained with a good and uncommon story as a fine skull for a devoted hunter.  Perhaps more, for storytellers were often looked upon as keepers of truth/order.  Their tales often kept history, and held lessons; absolute boredom had very bad effects on a warrior's sanity, and storytellers kept mind and soul engaged in long, unoccupied hours where tedium might gnaw at the depths of a mind.

     Fiona watched the leader, Krreehhhh, speak with his clan.  The Abductor scientists had long since left to tend to other things, filing data, organizing charts and comparisons and records, that sort of thing.  She was enjoying herself making her own observations.

     The group of Predators hadn't even bothered to go deeper back into the enclosure, but spoke in the blank antechamber that the window connected to her enclosure.  The creatures in the enclosure to their right ignored them all, obliviously spinning jewel-toned webs and preening feathers.  

     Krreehhhh was speaking with the others, the indecipherable language of growls and clicks and gurgling noises trading back and forth.  Surely they had to be discussing what had just happened, and Fiona noted with interest the equivalent of a dropped jaw on Sekhmet, the old female who shared Athena's- no, _R-r-rhruuh's_- gray eyes.  Several times, glances darted toward her but always returned to Krreehhhh.  

     _I think I rattled them.  About like how I'd react to a deer debating animal rights, I expect.  I wonder, these dragons he spoke of . . .  What're they like?  And how could they keep Predators from hunting?  I mean, they don't seem like the type to give up easily.  This could be interesting . . ._

     She stopped.  Most teenagers she knew of wouldn't be thinking of this as interesting.  They would probably still be stuck on the fact that Predators existed, and the idea that mythological creatures had forbidden them to hunt humans probably wouldn't even have registered.

     _Oh well.  I always knew I was odd.  That's what comes when you put together families like Markovskis and Williamsons.  Too much sci-fi and fantasy and scholarly lust for information.  Eh._

_     And I can help them.  Because of these dragon things, they aren't a threat to me and mine (not that I would have counted as a challenge anyway), and it's just wrong _not_ to help.  Grandma would say I'm too soft-hearted, Ma would join me.  Too good at imagining what I'd feel in someone else's place.  And I do like Athena.  I'll have to learn more about her when I can.  _

     And Krreehhhh had won her respect.  A mind-fight was a contest where it was very easy to cheat.  She watched him talking, his orange eyes wide and disbelieving.  Eventually the Predators finished speaking, and just sort of stayed there, stunned.  Most of the younger-seeming nine looked startled; a few like Hephastus, the one with the scarred face, had a look that seemed to say _You have to be joking_.  The elder females looked a bit like someone had brained them.     Very soon all were casting looks at her, the same ones they'd given the Abductor scientists the first time they'd seen them, utter disbelief.  It was so funny she had to smother giggles, at the hysterically ridiculous blankness.

     All except R-r-rhruuh.  The grey-eyed Predator she had named Athena, and whose real name she definitely could _not_ pronounce, seemed to have a gleam of intense curiosity, more than before in the watching-each-other-across-the-window sessions.  Fiona grinned, raised her hand in greeting to R-r-rhruuh, and settled down to ignore them and read an old J.D. Robb murder mystery, watching the reaction from the corner of her eye.

     Vurrr-eh-hir-r stared at the _huurrrehhhhhra_ on the other side of the enclosure window.  It had watched them speak, acknowledged them, and now ignored them.  Before, it had _mindspoken_ with her clan leader, insisting on its own honor and defending it with a challenge.  The Cold God's talons ran their icy course down her back.  Prey was not supposed to act like that.  Even prey protected by sneaky, freakish, fire-breathing demons who called upon impossible powers and had held a hunter captive for over a year of their world.

     Grrre-e-ehre felt about the same.  A prey beast should _not_ act like that.  And she had an old prejudice about _huurrrehhhhhra_; she had very nearly been captured and killed many years ago by them.  The near-capture had not been entirely her fault; the _huurrrehhhhhra_ had been cheating, and plain chance had set her foot on those rotting boards.  The other _huurrrehhhhhra_ had a word for the group she had been dealing with, _pirate_, or something like that.  She had been so utterly disgusted in her observation of their dishonorable actions, there had been almost no choice.  The sea had seen their bones slide into the depths; she would not have the heads of such disgusting creatures.  Tales from other hunters of huurrrehhhhhra dishonor and appalling habits had only reinforced her observations.

     She shook her head, banishing memories, and simply glared at the _huurrrehhhhhra_ with dislike and disbelief.  A good portion of suspicion, too.  It remained oblivious, looking at that weird rectangular object in its hands.

     How utterly infuriating.  It turns tradition upside down, makes clear it knows we're talking about it, and then completely ignores us! she silently snarled.

     Krreehhhh finished and was silent for a moment, allowing his clan to digest what he had just told them.  The little creature had actually offered to _help_ them!  That, beyond all the other not-in-the-rulebooks ideas, was the most inconceivable notion there was.  Prey did not help hunter knowingly. 

     For a few moments the clan watched the human studiously ignore them.  Then, R-r-rhruuh got up, settled by the window, and gently tapped a talon against it.

     The human slowly turned and faced them, settling the rectangular thing on her knee and simply watching.  Then she looked into R-r-rhruuh's face and bared her teeth in a _huurrrehhhhhra_ approximation of a smile.  The storyteller watched her intently, wondering what could be going through Hrrr-eh-r-r-rrrr's mind, what the little human intended to do.  And wanting more desperately than ever to be able to talk to her.  

     Hruuuhreeh(click), the first of the rest of the clan to do this, cautiously came closer to the window, next to her clan sister.  No one else had ever come this close to the human, simply uninterested in something that seemed to have no bearing on their situation.  The human turned her face to her, and raised a hand, then curled the fingers and lowered it.

     "What does that mean?  R-r-rhruuh, you spend your time watching it, what does that mean?" Hruuuhreeh(click) asked in a low tone.  

     "It's a greeting.  I think," said her half sister, looking across her shoulder.  Almost silently, as if not realizing she said it, "I wish I could know more . . ."

     The elders' sharp ears caught that.  Grrre-e-ehre repressed a snarl.  It was a _prey beast!_  A _huurrrehhhhhra_.  She did not trust it, she did not like it, and the very idea of agreeing to the mindspeech that it used to communicate was insane!  As she turned away, she reflected on other little bits and incidents that had gotten under her skin.  When the clan children had returned with a beast obviously poached from another's herd, for example.  The clan might not have any status, but they could at least have some pride, act with some honor, even if they were going to die out within a few generations!  There were only so many times a female from this family could steal a coupling from an outclan male before their home would be revealed and themselves made vulnerable to any of the enemy clans and banished ones that had shrunk their territory so.  This was a dying clan.  They could not find mates to breed, there seemed to be no way to gain status so they could, and to reveal their place would leave the small number open to any who wished to completely conquer the last of their territory.  Neatly removing, of course, any witnesses to contradict the right to take unclaimed land.

     Her granddaughters and grandson, R-r-rhruuh, Hruuuhreeh(click), and (Click)Greherrrr, were now all watching the human.  Grrre-e-ehre didn't even snarl again; it wasn't worth the effort.  Instead, a nearly silent rush of air left her throat, a sigh.  She could dislike humans all she liked, but it was a source of interest, of non-boredom.  Her clan-children were the same as any warriors, requiring something to pass time lest their sanity be eaten away slowly or they kill each other fighting.  Better curious about a human than each other's throats torn out.  It must be accepted.

     But she did _not_ have to accept it _happily_!

     Fiona watched Athena/R-r-rhruuh as she was joined in watching by several others.  There was Valkyrie, and the tall male she hadn't named.  They were soon joined by Hephastus, the male with the slender scars trailing down his face.  Artemis, the large-toothed female who always fought with Hephastus, stood nearby and joined in the questioning remarks addressed to Athena.  Atlas hovered in the background, and no one seemed to notice the big Predator male with the shoulders that would have done that old actor, Arnold something, proud.

     _I've got to figure out names for the rest of them, this is getting confusing.  _She sat and looked up at her observers, murder mystery on her knee.  The elders and other members of the group had left the antechamber of their enclosure, Sekhmet after one last, poisonous glare in her direction.  The rest looked a bit dazed, as if trying to take in concepts too foreign to wrap their minds around.  

     This pleased her to no end.  Perhaps the Predators were learning that you shouldn't expect every "prey beast" to be a docile, frightened sheep.  But she kept her merriment to herself, and paid attention to the five plus Atlas in the background who were watching her with unabashed curiosity.

     "Hi."

     "R-r-rhruuh, what's that mean?" whispered Arrrahur-r-r.  The clan-siblings were crowded together by the window, crouching to where they could see the human _Fiona_'s face.  The report of their clan leader had such incredible things in it- a _huurrrehhhhhra_ who was a storyteller, who challenged over honor, who wanted to _help_ them!  

     "It's another greeting."

     "She makes such weird sounds!"

     "You should hear the funny growl patterns she does," returned R-r-rhruuh.  "Maybe she'll do so.  Wait."

     "What are these- growl patterns?" asked R-r-r-rahhh, turning her head to the side in confusion.  "I've never heard of such things."

     "If you'd been watching, you'd have heard her, sister.  Just wait, it's strange, but it's so fascinating!"

     The _huurrrehhhhhra_ she had named Hrrr-eh-r-r-rrrr looked at each of them in turn, directly in the eyes and with her funny mouth in the strange shape R-r-rhruuh had learned was the equivalent of a smile.  Then, she spoke one word to each of them, never mind that they had no idea what they translated to.  For (Click)Greherrrr, she hesitated, then spoke an unintelligible, alien sentence and shrugged.

     (Click)Greherrrr turned with brows furrowed to his storyteller sister, who appeared to be the closest thing to an expert on _huurrrehhhhhra_ the clan had.  R-r-rhruuh clicked her jaws in a negative.

     "I don't know what it means.  Speak with the elders; Krreehhhh might know."  She looked intently down at Hrrr-eh-r-r-rrrr, who watched back.  It had occurred to her several times before, but were _huurrrehhhhhra_ supposed to act like that?  No matter now.  She cocked her head to indicate curiosity.  Hrrr-eh-r-r-rrrr did the same for a moment, then touched her chest and spoke the same word that the clan leader said was her name.  The little creature then touched the transparent barrier by each of them and spoke those words again, once again not having a specific one for (Click)Greherrrr.  Then she looked beyond the five crouching clan siblings to somewhere behind and above them, and spoke another.  They turned and saw Ehrrrar-r-(click)rr watching quietly, like he always did.  

     "I wonder what that's supposed mean."

     (Click)Greherrrr was silent a moment, then his eyes widened suddenly as if he were startled.  He chuckled.  

     "It named us.  It gave us all names in it's own way of speaking; only I don't think it chose one for me yet."

     "R-r-rhruuh, _tell_ us about this creature," begged Arrrahur-r-r.  

     "You're the one who's looked at it, _and_ you're the storyteller.  What do you know of it?"  All four clan-siblings turned to their storyteller sister to assuage their burning curiosity.  As her tiny youngling shifted inside, R-r-rhruuh gladly told them what she had observed about Hrrr-eh-r-r-rrrr, and they tried to match it with what Krreehhhh had said.

     "So, it wants to learn about warriors?" asked R-r-r-rahhh.

     "Some warriors," growled (Click)Greherrrr.  All eyes were on him.  He returned their looks boldly; they all thought about this, but there was always something more important taking up their attentions.  Here in the prison the captors had put them in, there were no dangerous animals to guard against.  Food materialized at regular intervals.  Even the tests were fairly harmless and came at a boringly predictable pace.  For the first time, there _was_ time for the young adults to reflect on what they had missed by being a hidden, dying clan.

     "We have never hunted, never been able to challenge ourselves.  We are never going to be able to.  We'll never put skulls and skins of foreign beasts on our walls.  We can't go anywhere without a ship or arming or training, and that requires skulls to trade.  We are not warriors.  The elders might have been once, but we aren't."

     There was no anger or vehemence in (Click)Greherrrr's words, only a soft resigned regret.  They all felt so.  But such bitterness was not brought up when survival was first in mind.  This was the first time anyone had spoken it out loud.

     Fiona watched.  She, for lack of any other idea of what to say to the group of Predators watching her, had told them the names she had given them in her own mind.  Athena/R-r-rhruuh had exaggerated the cocked head curiosity posture, indicating that she and the others had absolutely no idea what Fiona was talking about.  So she'd tried again, having heard her own name come up when Krreehhhh had explained what happened and hoping that meant the . . . clan, knew the word meant her.  The tall one she hadn't picked a named for had spoken, setting off a five-way conversation that seemed to have subsided into looking morose.

     Crossing her arms over her chest, she looked up at the Predators across the window.

     "What's got you lot so depressed?"  _Aside from being captured and having your leader mentally trounced.  Hrmmm, maybe I shouldn't have- No.  He insulted me and I stood up for myself.  It took me long enough to grow a spine 'mongst the humans, I'm not about to give it up when confronted with rude aliens._

     Her words seemed to startle Athena/R-r-rhruuh and the rest into wakefulness.  The grey-eyed looked at her and shook her head as if clearing away dull thoughts, then spoke a little to her clan.

     In the back of the enclosure, Krreehhhh spoke more with the elder females, of the strange human that seemed to present contradictions and further contradictions.  But at the moment, he was not speaking of the confusion over where to place Fiona, as captor-enemy or fellow-prisoner-to-be-ignored, nor of the idea that one who knew they were considered prey would offer help, but of a strange reminding from one of her comments.

     "'I'm going to ignore your tone?'" said Grrre-e-ehre.  "Are you sure you aren't just remembering Krrreeeeerlh(click)?"

     "Why would I possibly remember, at that exact moment, a great aunt that's been dead fifty years?!"

     "Why would you agree to _mindspeak_ with that thing?"

     "I had no choice!  And she beat me fairly, and that was the stakes!  I may lead a dying clan, I may not be a great hunter and warrior, but I may act with some pride!  I will keep my honor, and keep my promises!  Yes, even to a prey animal!" he bellowed, at the look on his clan-sister's face.  

     Vurrr-eh-hir-r was settled on the ground with her twins and Grrreh(click), watching the exchange.  The stocky young male worked a small piece of false wood in his hands, paying no attention to it but merely carving it into no particular shape at all.  Finally the smooth slivers were too small and fell from his palm, drawing his attention to what he had been doing in a minor double-take.  Grrreh(click) brushed them away, and watched the eldest and her daughters, unsure of what to think or do at the moment.

     The scientists scurried, analyzing the recordings, filing their equivalent of paperwork (though no actual paper was involved).  Though highly unprofessional, squeaks and squeals carried back and forth, discussing opinions and sharing enthusiasm.  The head scientist of Wing 68 widened its mouth a little in the sort of annoyance-disgust that supervisors of all species have when their underlings are behaving like children.  And then gave in and joined.

     "Did you see 52338's face?!  When she heard him say humans had no honor!  I thought the barrier would melt!"

     No doubt about it, the young human had influenced the scientists in charge of her.  She was at once extremely logical and extremely _illogical_.  Or perhaps the fact of her logic _was_ illogical.  The little female reasoned her way out of being scared of the scientists, reasoned them into speaking to her person to person, made herself treat _them_ as equals against every instinct screaming through her mind.  Equals who were, according to her, disobeying basic rules of manners.

     "Did you know, that at home I could bring the laws down on you for abduction, probably illegal experiments on me (never mind that it's only a bit of observations), _and_ doing any of it without my consent- and I'm a minor!" she had mind-spat at them.  Or at least, that was what their first conversations had boiled down to.  Then, apparently, after hearing a bit on the scientists' works, she seemed to have scented an opportunity.  For change, for exploration, adventure, for her and/or her kind.  When she had heard how investigating the human race was no longer a top priority and was delegated to lower ranks such as them, she had wondered why.  They had answered, that most of the data that could be gained had been, and now it was simply periodic checks to see how far they were advancing, so that the instant they were ready, the scientists' race could invite a new member to the United Worlds.  After a time of brief consideration, she had said that, if they _asked_, she would permit them to observe and test her, when she permitted, what she permitted.  

     And thus it had begun.  Much against procedure, the scientists were allowing the human to observe with them, to ask them questions about their own culture.  She was restraining herself from begging to read their notes on other species, but no scientist with half an emotional center would let a fellow knowledge seeker burn with curiosity for too long, when the situation could be remedied.  The young human was truly fascinated by any knowledge she could get her blunt, five-digit appendages on.  A few were secretly translating a few of the _very_ general and broad encyclopedias into 52338's dialect of Human, to be presented when they returned her to her home.  They felt they could trust this fellow knowledge-seeker.  She understood dangers of knowledge and knew her own kind, and had indeed corrected several mistakes of theirs where they had assumed humans to be too similar to one another.  She had shown them the endless variation that could exist, the huge broad ranges, in the collection of fiction and real life memories she had carried about in her head and in the bag of primitive plastic she had held when first taken.

     Recordings indicated at the moment that half the group of Species 2345137656798 was at the enclosure, listening to the young human alternately humming and singing.  Fiona had said she had odd tastes in music compared to the rest of her peers, but apparently was very popular among her neighbors, after startling them out of their apparently dark mood by reminding them she existed.

     Eventually all the reports and notes were filed, and lights dimmed in the halls of the scientists' archaic ship.  The scientists on duty went back to their quarters as sleep-time, in a gentle cloud like the bluish nebula they were within viewing range of, descended over the entire vessel.

. . .

     Fiona woke to something she had never sensed before.  She blinked, remembered like every morning for the past six years that she wasn't wearing her glasses, and stretched as she retrieved them.  Raising her head from her arm, she tried to figure what had woken her.

     _Lights?  No.  Mom tried that once to wake me for school, didn't work.  Noise?  Uh, I don't snore, and there's no morning TV or computer games to make noise here.  Cat purr?  _Waitaminute!_  I am not at home, why would my cats be here?  So why am I feeling a purr?!_

     And for that matter, why would a purr be from the floor?

     Fiona groggily got into a semi-upright position, hands flat to the padded floor of her enclosure.  The padding muffled the sensation, but the floor was definitely vibrating a little.

     _Eh.  If it were something to worry about, Head Scientist Oi092u235aser-9q8welkajdf;; would have sent someone to make sure we specimens were all right._  They might be a bit emotionally detached, but the Abductors did their best to treat specimens humanely, according to the Ia;lsdpwerowlksdjq949rq849almxa, a sort of scientists' code of honor that spelled out their ethics.

     _And besides, this is a space ship, for crying out loud!  There are bound to be vibrations from _somewhere_ at _sometime_._

     Decided, she stretched further and faced the day.  Er, whatever (day and night meaning nothing in space).

     In the next enclosure, the Predators were also waking, or at least, coming where she could see them.  Whether yawning or roaring, they looked very fierce either way, but Fiona had learned, to get a _really_ good idea of what they felt, to look to the eyes.  So the twins coming closer were in a mildly sleepy, and definitely not aggressive mood, despite the toothy snarls they gave.  

     The pair of young females- _That I've _still_ got to figure out what to call_- were walking toward the antechamber, out of the curling mist of their synthetic environment.  This caused Fiona to wonder.  Usually the twins were accompanied by the unnamed elder who was most likely their mother.  In fact, she had never seen them outside of her company before.  What were they doing?

     Her question was answered as breakfast arrived, materializing through the wall in both enclosures.  She grabbed her tray, which would automatically vaporize when she was done, and absentmindedly crunched into a simulated vegetable while watching the twins take the tray that held the synthetic meat their clan subsisted on.

     Fiona looked ruefully at her well-disguised equivalent of a food pellet.  It might supply exactly everything she needed at her species and current level of activity, but she would frankly commit bloody murder if it meant she could get a rare, nicely salted steak.  One that had at one point been a real, living cow.  Her little carnivore, Mom had called her.  

     She missed her and Dad and even her older brother.  They must have been utterly frantic- and another thought struck her.  Egad.  What would it be like, coming home and having to _explain_?!

     (Clack)Grreeh(click) worked with her sister to pick up the flat thing that appeared holding their meals and then disappeared, every day.  They were the first up, and despite the fact that there were no other creatures to compete with in the false swamp, it was still ingrained to get their food protected and to get to it first.  Vur-r-r-r shifted her grip- the thing was heavy.  She and her twin gradually got their burden up, balanced, and moving, walking toward the back of the false swamp.  They settled it in the central area where the elders stayed and where the little private territories were neutral.  

     Vur-r-r-r nudged her sister with her knuckles.  

     "I want to go see this human."

     "Mother won't like it, and neither will Grrre-e-ehre."

     "We almost had our _r-rehh_ rings.  We can see what creatures we like."

     "Exactly."  

     The twin females hushed their footsteps.  Nearly adults they might be, but they still feared punishment if caught.  They could be bold against prey, against the food creatures they had taken for themselves and the one big one they had killed for their clan, but against their mother and her clan siblings was another matter entirely.

     In front they stepped upward onto the floor of the antechamber, and stood, a little indecisively, half the room away from the window.  The _huurrrehhhhhra_ did not appear aware of them, eating her own food.  The sight of this reminded Vur-r-r-r how hungry she was, but she hardened her resolve.  She wanted to see this human, and nothing, not parental authority, not her stomach, hell-frost, not even divine will could stop her!  She walked forward, and (Clack)Grreeh(click) followed, equally curious and fearful-bold at their first subtle rebellion.

     They stood in front of the mysterious beast.  She continued to eat pensively, giving no indication that she saw them, or if she did, thought it worth disturbing her meal.  Vur-r-r-r watched, while (Clack)Grreeh(click) crouched down to bring her face closer.  

     The _huurrrehhhhhra_ slowly closed and then opened its eyes, an unhurried blink, still facing away from them.  Hunters' sight couldn't tell the movement of the eyeballs, but at the tiny twitches of the muscle around the _huurrrehhhhhra_'s sockets, (Clack)Grreeh(click) and Vur-r-r-r could tell she was sneaking glances back and forth between them and the strange thing she was eating.

     (Clack)Grreeh(click) jerked back her head as the _huurrrehhhhhra_ suddenly looked across her narrow shoulder.  She spoke clearly in her alien language, tilting her head to the side and giving that weird grimace of a smile.

     "It's rude to stare, y'know."

     Vur-r-r-r crouched down next to her sister.  The creature grinned again and reached a hand to cover her strange mouth and the even stranger protrusion above it, resting elbow on knee.  They could see her torso shaking as R-r-rhruuh said it did when the _huurrrehhhhhra_ laughed.  

     "This beast is _weird_," muttered (Clack)Grreeh(click).  Vur-r-r-r nodded as the human-thing started to murmur again.  Perhaps to them, perhaps to itself.

     Vur-r-r-r studied the alien's face.  It was as if someone had first squished it's head down to a tiny, rounded shape, stripped away the outer jaws, and then smoothed away the complex muscles that worked a hunter's mandibles with a layer of skin.  Plus that protrusion above the slitted mouth and between the shallow-socketed eyes.  It was utterly- creepy was not the term.  Disturbing, maybe.  Completely alien, beyond a doubt.  But, as she recalled, there were creatures with even stranger shapes in the waters of their home.  

     Vur-r-r-r unfolded her lower jaws in regret at that thought.  The clan was the only living thing here, in the prison; the waters and air were devoid of life.  She was _bored_, with none of the little creatures to chase, no hunting necessary, not even normal daily strife and defense.  The captor-creatures' experiments, even, were about as dangerous as the shadowy cold-monsters Vurrr-eh-hir-r had frightened the twins into obedience with as little ones, as babies and preadolescents; mostly bluff, and their own fear making it so horrible.

     But there was no time for further observation or reminiscence as the window to the hallway beyond their prison showed the sudden arrival the captors.  The twins, taken by surprise by the seemingly frail creatures that wielded such power walking toward their enclosure, leapt away as fast as they could, disappearing into the mists.

     Head Scientist Oi092u235aser-9q8welkajdf;; continued the usual routine of specimen retrieval, this time for the one Fiona had affectionately named after the war-goddess of one of her species' long dead religions.  The human child herself walked beside them once freed from her enclosure.  She looked down to Oi092u235aser-9q8welkajdf;; and smiled, and then stepped back to travel beside the portable enclosure and the snarling burden it carried.

     Grrre-e-ehre attempted to maintain her dignity.  Granted, when captured, at first she _had_ roared, growled, and attempted to tear apart her prison of solid air.  But at the moment, she was sitting with the only sign of nerves her clenched fists.  She was maintaining her dignity whatever the cost, not allowing those who had imprisoned her clan and herself to see any fear or weakness.  Outwardly, she was the picture of a calm, proud elder.

     Inside, she was cursing in the vilest terms her language offered.  

     The instant they were released, every clan-member scrambled toward the window.

     "It's Grrre-e-ehre this time," said Arrrahur-r-r.  

     The head of the clan winced.

     _And that infuriatingly cheerful little _huurrrehhhhhra_ is going to be mindspeaking with her.  Oh dear Burning Goddess.  She'll be furious._

     The angry matriarch watched as half the expedition took her through a portal in the hall, while the rest, including _that huurrrehhhhhra_, went around a curve and disappeared.  She turned forward, springing into a battle-ready crouch in her cage as the interior of the room came into view.

     Her outer fangs drew back as she saw the chair in front of a window cutting off half the room.  On the other side, the same setting was mirrored, and in it was the _huurrrehhhhhra_ and the captors, attaching things to it's forehead.  As she was paying attention to this, the door behind closed and her cage suddenly disappeared, allowing her to drop to the floor and for the skinny aliens to try and get her into that chair.

     They wrestled.  Grrre-e-ehre fought hard, and fought dirty.  She very nearly managed to get in a punch before the deft and heavy aliens dragged her down, squeaking to each other.

     She growled as five clung to her back, and an additional two held down each of her limbs, effectively pinning her to the floor.  How could they be so heavy?!  The captors were the most spindly and tiny of beasts, and yet they seemed to each weigh as much as a (click)_ur-r-r-r_(click) calf!

     _Do you still wish to go through with this?_ wrote the Head Scientist of Wing 68.

     _Of course.  Think of it as a challenge,_ Fiona scribbled back.  _And we humans have always been dumb about not backing down from a challenge.  Don't worry!_

     The Head Scientist looked toward the violently struggling specimen and contracted one eye socket in doubt.

     _By the way, why's the floor humming?  It never did before._


	10. Part the Tenth

Part the Tenth

     The small wielder of authority widened its eyes.  Indeed, the floor had been vibrating a little today, but it had not been enough to distract it from today's tasks.  Hmmmm.  Perhaps it would wise to send a messenger to the engine area, to get any relevant information.  A scholar could never be too cautious.  Ships hardly ever broke down, they were so advanced, but then again . . .  Those assigned to this ship were low status scientists, given the dregs of the equipment and assignments.

     Yes, definitely send a messenger down right away.

     Across the window, Sekhmet strained against the force-field bands holding her down.  Fiona got comfortable, and prepared a loud noise just in case the highly irritated-looking Predator blasted her with her own aggression or fear.  

     Looking into Sekhmet's face, something inside Fiona wanted to quail at such outright hatred.  She kicked that part.  _At least she's honest about disliking me._ She had watched the world and the stories it bred, and decided she liked honesty.  Like in The Lion King, one of Disney's older movies, she had had the most absolute disgust for Scar, the manipulator, the master of court intrigue and lies.  The hyenas, on the other hand, were openly greedy.  A touch hypocritical, perhaps, as she was manipulating the other aliens to treat her equally, but then, she had no intent to do harm, unlike the animated character in question.

     _Cut it out, self, big, important things are about to happen!  You can always review your opinions on life-universe-everything later.  Why do I babble to myself like this . . ._

     In last-moment preparation, Fiona quickly reviewed what she knew of the situation she'd face in a couple of seconds.  The Predator she was about to have forced telepathic contact with was likely female, elder, and of some importance to the group.  She also apparently hated her.  Or at the very least, thought Fiona was somehow intentionally responsible for her current troubles as well as the rest of the universe, if the level of her glares were any gauge.

_     Be polite, be reasonable, try not to get on her bad side any further.  I think I can handle this._

     Fiona could feel the first stirrings of the extensions and mergings, now that she new what to "look" for, and just before opening up her "public" consciousness completely, had one last thought that was almost a prayer to whatever force ruled the universe, even if it be random chance.

     _I hope I can handle this.  She really, _reeeeeally_ looks like a grouch_.

     Just then, the messenger sent toward the engine room skidded to a halt, and every single entity on the ship reacted with puzzlement and alarm as the gentle thrum that had been pulsing through the hull, halls, and habitats changed pitch.  The scientists, lab assistants, and secretarial staff that had been so wrapped up in their scholarly works were forced to sit up and take notice, particularly when the shelving units started crashing.

     Hjhsdify1234, the messenger, clamped down on instinctive panic and skittered toward the engine room, the vibration getting exponentially stronger until it was forced to climb along the ladder-like ridges along the walls and ceilings for just such emergencies, because the floor wouldn't stay in one place long enough to put feet down or pick them up.  Very rude of it, the messenger grumbled.  It reached the engine area, and, forgetting all protocol, tapped the nearest shoulder and demanded to know what was going on.

     Forgetting to discipline the lowly messenger in its hysteria, the technician quickly explained.  Hjhsdify1234 trembled, feeling the first stiffness of a faint in its limbs.  But the little messenger gathered up every scrap of courage, what little there was, and scrambled back to the chamber from which it had been sent.

     He was greeted at the door by the mutual roars of "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!!" from the scientists and the human specimen.  The new creature's snarl was incomprehensible, but likely amounted to the same thing.

     "The computers that control the engine have frozen!  We are going in a straight line off course, and couldn't turn, speed up or slow down if we wanted to!!"

     Grrre-e-ehre had no idea what was being said, and ignored the prey-animal and captor-animals in favor of her bonds.  They could barely be seen, faint tracings of energy across her joints, chest, and belly that bound her to the chair more implacably than the strangling _rek-k-k-rrrg_.  As the shaking of the ship around her increased, she did her best to study them, leaning as far as she could to her right wrist.  

     Frustration put an edge on the keen snarl as she discovered the composition to be some energy- or force-band that disappeared seamlessly into the armrest below her wrist.  Grrre-e-ehre could only turn her arm a little, and even if she rubbed it raw to grease it with blood, her hand wouldn't pull through, not without gnawing it off.  And that wasn't going to happen, especially as she couldn't bend with the _krrrellhruh_-mating chest band!  

     Grrre-e-ehre looked up as the room's shaking changed pitch yet again, a touch of panic winding a chill tendril around the bases of her hearts.  Her chest pumped in a nearly hysterical pant.  She _had to get out_, and even so, what could she do?  The captors had the advantage of home-territory, knowledge of any number of nasty surprises.  And _why_ was this place quaking?!!

     And then she realized what she was doing.

     She stopped, in absolute horror.

     She, a warrior, a hunter, was thinking and acting like a trapped prey beast, a snared _hreeeh_.  She had panicked.  _She had stopped acting as if she were in control_.

     And the horror bled into anger, and that burned through the fear-haze that had bound Grrre-e-ehre to the path of the pursued and vulnerable.

     Oddly enough, also at that point the last barriers to her mind were penetrated by the machinery that the captors had strapped her to, and she could _see/HEAR _. . .  

     _. . . computer controlling the ship froze?  _SO GO REBOOT IT!

     The abductor-alien scribbled, _Define term?_  Its handwriting was nearly illegible from the constant bounce of the ship.

     Fiona curled and uncurled her fingers.  She was getting just a bit- okay, she had been vastly cranky for a long time with her captors, she was just very good at putting those feelings away for when she didn't need to wear a polite mask.  But it was disappointing at times, when the _supposedly_ all-powerful, highly advanced aliens seemed baffled by simple concepts like "reboot."  Or "voluntary."  Her patience was starting to wear again after careful repair in the first few weeks of her captivity, but a deep breath and a few fist-flexes later, she tried to explain what humans traditionally did when their computers froze.

     Head Scientist Oi092u235aser-9q8welkajdf;; blinked once.  Then once again.  The others were silent, until one squeaked out-

     "The old nursery rhyme!!"  

     As if breaking a force-field, that galvanized the entire group to action.  The messenger leapt off into the halls, running as if its life depended on it.  Others skittered to the intercoms and to personal communication devices to tell others that yes, there was a possible solution, could they get an opinion/quick discussion?  A few technicians were ordered to remain behind and make sure the contact between specimens recorded properly.

     She was divided between laughing (the ant-like scurry of the abductors-scientists making a hilarious contrast with their supposed scholarly dignity) and giving them a strange look (the ant-like scurry making a hilarious contrast with their supposed scholarly dignity).  But no matter now.  The techs left behind were low-caste, unable to decipher the machine-recordings but able to make them flow smoothly; she could speak freely.  Channels were open, opportunity awaited her grasp.  Sekhmet stared with suspicion across the barrier.  With a predatory, innocent Who-me? grin, Fiona started talking.

. . .

_Passing time._

_. . ._

     R-r-rhruuh looked out the window, Hruuuhreeh(click) next to her.  Her concern (some might say barely contained worry) showed in her intent gaze, and the bloodless grip on the wall where it indented to the window.

     "R-r-rhruuh," growled Hruuuhreeh(click).  The storyteller turned to her.

     "Sister, sitting here and worrying for our grandmother does her no good, and you no good.  Come eat!"

     R-r-rhruuh locked her jaws rigidly in the at-rest folded position, an expression of annoyance that a human might have equated with thinned, compressed lips.  But, as she looked out once more at the hall beyond their prison, and the other enclosures beyond that, another beside her sister prompted her that breaking her vigil to go eat with the clan would not be the end of the universe.  She lost her annoyed look at the kick from within, and got up.

     Hruuuhreeh(click) watched the sudden movement of the warmth-image of her niece or nephew with interest, pride for her clan-sister, and perhaps, a bit of envy.  The urge to have young was always needling those of warrior-kind, whether they knew it or not.  That was one of the many things driving them to prove themselves, ever, always, trying to win glory, status, and the attention of the opposite sex.

     "It's getting strong," she commented.

     They made their way within.  After the meal, R-r-rhruuh was called upon to tell another story, while Grrreh(click) was quietly carving another small figure.  All was quiet, eerily so without the creatures of the home swamp making noise, jabbering, squealing, squeaking, clicking, snarling.  All was calm.

     And then the invisible energy-cages showed up.

     Vur-r-r-r was frozen in shock, as well as contained by her cage of solid air.  She was at the moment looking out the prison window, having snuck off just for a moment, and she was now greeted with an astonishing sight!  The Fiona-human walked with pride in her posture, spine straight in the way that could only be reached, never practiced.  The captors followed in a loose gaggle, and in their midst _walked Grrre-e-ehre!_  

     Not slumped on the bottom of a floating invisible box, not dragged unconscious, but walking, by herself, without attacking any of them.  Vur-r-r-r's mandibles gaped and her eyes were wide as _kurrklllll_(click) shells.

     The window opened, and Grrreh-e-ehre stepped in.  Next to see her were her fellow elders.  Krreehhhh could see something in his clan-sister, in the tight, rigid scowl in the brows, the deliberate, professionally bland set of her jaws, the bloodless knuckles and icy skin.  There was a terrible rage boiling below her surface, the sort of controlled madness that made her a formidable opponent, that if she'd had the means to pay for a place on a voyage, would have let her be one of the most famed huntresses in their world.  The sort of blazing firestorm of god-like anger that lets a warrior walk into a nest of fire-blooded demons and leave with every beast in it dead, smoldered below Grrre-e-ehre's skin after her time with the _huurrrehhhhhra_.

     The window closed, their cages released, and Krreehhhh and Vurrr-eh-hir-r rushed forward to greet their sister, only to be stopped short by another invisible wall!  Grrreh-e-ehre stood inflexible, starting to tremble in fury.  In another moment, the separate wall of force disappeared, and the clan prepare for an explosion.

     And what an explosion it was.

     _"HOW DO THEY DO IT!!!  HOW CAN THEY SURVIVE IN THOSE NUMBERS?  HOW DO THEY KEEP FROM KILLING THEIR OWN CHILDREN!!!!!!!!"_

     "What happened?"

     "What did they do?"

     _"SHE ASKED ME IF I WAS VENOMOUS!!!"_


End file.
